RWBY(R), Ren's dare
by Derpitay
Summary: Ren is dared by Nora to be more social. Taking the dare, he begins his journey over four days with each member on Team RWBY! There is no romance in any sense of the word, so no harem this time. Just a light-hearted comedy with Ren and RWBY! As of 4/1/17, "Yang's Arc P.7: Drum-roll, please!" is live! As of 1/9/18, Chapters 1 and 1.5 have been revamped!
1. Awkward Introductions: Blake P 1

**welcome to Ren's Dare! you may have noticed that I haven't updated this in a long time- I've now returned to this as a way to spend some free-time. As of 1/9/18, I have updated this chapter to flow more smoothly, and make it look less like... well, you know. shabby.**

 **i can't promise that you'll like this story- if you're looking for any type of romance, I'm afraid you won't find it here. i _do_ , however, try my darned-hardest to make a story with humor that revolves around Ren and his escapades with RWBY. **

**think of it like a slice of life, but with Ren as the protagonist.**

 **and it isn't a harem.**

 **so, without further ado (because god-damn there's been a lot of that recently!), here's the first revamped chapter of...**

* * *

 **Ren's Dare!**

"Ren! Ren! Ren! Ren!" She looked down at the black-haired hunter-in-training, still sound asleep. Frowning, she sighed.

"Lie Ren! Wake up!" she shouted.

No sign of waking from him.

Seeing as how her partner wasn't going to be woken up by regular shouting, she looked around for something to do. After glazing her eyes around the room, they lazily rested upon the drapes. A sinister plan- open the drapes and ruin _everyone's_ sleep- arose in her mind. She started tip-toeing towards the curtains before Ren's voice rose from her left.

"Nora." She looked at him, his eyes now slightly opened. The magenta shining through his morning haze, he managed to look both incredibly tired yet alert. "If you're about to do what I think you are, don't."

She groaned. "But I had to wake you up somehow..."

"Well," he said with a small smile, "I'm awake. So now we don't have to disturb their sleep," he yawned as he leaned up against the bed frame, "because they need it too."

Nora looked over at Jaune and Pyrrha, both of them looking content with sleeping for however more hours. It was, after all, Saturday: usually a sleepy day for Beacon as a whole.

"Okay," she replied.

"Now, I trust you're going to 'brief' me on my objective for this weekend?"

"Oh! Right!" She chuckled. "Wow, I almost forgot about that."

Ren looked at her. "Really? You _were_ the one who dared me. How did you-"

"- Oh, well, you know. I'm tired too, you know," she said. "Now then!"

Swinging his feet over the bed, he turned on his scroll to check the time. He blinked before shaking his head.

"Nora, didn't I tell you not to wake me up before six, though?"

She offered a sheepish grin. "Hey, you've got four people to hang out with in forty-two hours."

"Forty-eight," he corrected.

"Forty-two, forty-eight, it doesn't matter," she waved. "Now, let's get you ready!"

Blinking a few more times to dry and get reoriented with the world around him, he noticed that Nora had already dug out his old, black suitcase from the back of their shared wardrobe, propped against their dorm room door.

"Nora, let me rest for five more minutes." Upon seeing her pout more, he began to plead. "Please?"

"… Oh… Ren. You're such a lazy sloth! You can't just stay in bed all day, that's no fun!"

"Just five minutes..."

"Nosiree! Nope, zilch, nada, no! You're gettin' up right now!"

* * *

 **30 minutes later...**

"What?" He gave her a confused look. "I can't ask Jaune or Pyrrha for help?"

"Yep," popping the 'p'.

"Why?

"What if you cheat?" she said in an incredulous tone, saying it like it was the most obvious thing on Remnant.

He ignored her last statement."Is this so that I don't go having too much fun without you?"

"Well, you're supposed to have fun, but..." she trailed off. Looking away for a moment, she toed the floor as she spoke again. "... Yeah, pretty much."

Ren sighed. Her imagination knew no bounds. "Nora, the most fun I will likely have is a day of peace and quiet with Blake."

Immediately, she perked up. "Oh, great! Reading's super-duper boring, so I bet I won't be missing much!"

He rose an eyebrow, letting the jab at the perfectly respectable past-time of reading slide. "You were the one who gave me this dare," Ren reminded her. "This is the second time I've told you this."

"I know, I know," she sighed. "But it just feels weird sending you off to go socialize."

He offered a small smile. "You make me sound like a child, Nora."

They met eye-to-eye for a moment before they both looked away.

"Well, it's just concern. Yang's pretty fiery," she said. "She might take you to a night-club."

Ren slightly shuddered at the thought but didn't show any visible reaction. "I'll manage if she does," he lied.

"And Weiss might be tough."

"I actually think she and I will do fine," he reassured. Truth be told, he probably knew the least about the heiress apart from the fact that she was a Schnee. He didn't say that out loud though.

"Ruby's super energetic too," she frowned.

"I can deal with you," he replied. "I can manage with Ruby."

She blinked and looked around, snapping herself out of her worrisome self. "Well, sounds like you've got it all planned out!"

He nodded and gave a small smile.

"Alright! You're ready!" With that, she opened the door and shoved him out. She gave the still-tired teen a quick wave before she slammed the door.

 _Anti-climatic,_ he thought to himself.

Without another word in edgewise from him, she shut the door, locking it for good measure, and shouted. "Remember the rules! Can't find or contact us for help, and if you cheat, you have to do it again."

"Got it," he said. Before walking away, he listened to Nora's footsteps fade farther back to her bed, making an audible thud when she flopped onto it and starting snoring instantaneously, adding to the noise of Jaune's restful snores as well. He checked the time.

 _Well then. Not only do I hate truth or dare now, I'm on my own at 6 in the morning. What does RWBY even do on the weekend? Knowing the time, probably sleep. Only Blake would be awake... maybe._

He put his suitcase on the ground, and pressed his ear against the door of RWBY's dorm, and tuned his hearing.

 _Well, the loud snoring is definitely Yang. I hear a shower running; odds are it's Blake. Does Ruby snore? She most likely does. But I can't discern whether or not Yang's just drowning her out or if they're snoring together. Weiss most definitely doesn't snore._ He narrowed his eyes. _Reconnaissance inconclusive, I suppose._

Ren brought his head away from the door and leaned against the wall next to Team RWBY's door on his left, making a small thud. Putting his suitcase on the right, he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the challenges ahead. His mind still fairly bogged down by the morning fog, he attempted to collect his thoughts.

 _Blake's tolerable. If it's anything that we share other than a love of books, it's our ability to be an introvert and still survive in close proximity with others. How she survives being partners with Yang is like me with Nora I suppose; we just got used to it, but seeing her adapt to Yang in months where it took me..._ His mind drifted to memories of childish arguments between him and Nora. _It certainly took me longer. I know she likes to read all kinds of books, from cold, historical tomes to fiction and romantic dramas. I've had my fair share of those, and they're not my preferred choice to read._

The word reverberated in his mind. Lascivious books weren't his thing.

 _Alright, maybe I won't talk about that part with her. Not exactly a good way to break the ice._

 _Speaking of ice... Weiss._ Ren shook his head at his own Yang-worthy pun. _'Ice Queen', as her friends so affectionately call her, is another case of a person that had a very hard outer shell. She's stuck-up, politically firm, and very wordy when it came to proving her point. But her team has gotten her to both simmer down, warm up, and she's proven to be important to RWBY as their main Dust caster, along with their voice of reason when Blake's too busy off reading her assorted collection of novels and novellas. She's not exactly a social butterfly either; her cold, uptight demeanor is usually enough to drive people off. How am I supposed to have fun with Weiss? Drink tea? Talk about Dust 101?_ He shook his head. _She's partners with Ruby… maybe I'll ask her for help._

His mind glazed over Ruby, the energetic little girl who has impressed many, including Ren, with her command over the sniper-scythe known as Crescent Rose. _She's just like Nora in a lot of ways. Hyperactive, loves sugar, optimistic, nearly inhuman ability to grin, and hates to do school work. But Ruby's a bit more mature, even though we've got two years on her. Loves her team, and will do anything for them to ensure their safety. But she's still lacking in some worldly knowledge due to her age: innocent in her own ways. I'll have to be sure not to overstep some line that Yang probably has set up for her…_ Ren shuddered at the thought of seeing Yang angry, crimson eyes and fire blazing from her hair. _I shouldn't ever have to confront that stage of events. Highly unlikely. Otherwise, dealing with her will be similar to how I manage Nora._ That thought brought him some comfort; after all, he knew how to deal with Nora, so it shouldn't be as different with Ruby.

 _Finally, Yang._ He sighed deeply. _The scary one._ _Yang is going to be more than a handful._

His mind drifted back to Nora putting forward the possiblility that Yang might take him to a night club. The words tasted foul in his mouth. _Pounding music, blazing lights, absolute chaos,_ shaking his head. _I never understood how people tolerated that._

 _She's going to be bucketsful of activity and trouble. I hope she doesn't take me clubbing... or motorcycling... or anything that involves destruction or anything that represents a danger to my well-being. I've always seen her as the motherly figure for RWBY as a whole, but perhaps that's only towards Ruby. She has been seen to deploy some mannerism of maturity on occasion, and she is a nigh-unstoppable force on the battlefield if you even glance her hair._

After shaking his head, he took another glance down at his scroll. It was now 6:10, and even though Ren was a highly skilled hunter-in-training, standing still for ten minutes outside of a dorm filled with four sleeping females still didn't feel comfortable for the lotus warrior.

The fog out of his mind, he began to think-panic-about what he would do when he knocked on RWBY's dorm door.

 _Should I even knock? I know that Yang's not a morning person until she's downed three cups of coffee, and that Blake might not be as hospitable to me standing outside their room at such an early time of day._

He reconsidered. Then _again, if I don't knock, who knows when they're going to come out. What if they don't? What if they're going to have a party inside this weekend or something? I woudl rather not do party stuff again; I did enough of that last night and Nora nearly put lipstick on me in her drunken stupor. What if Nora walks in and finds me drinking and playing spin the bottle or something? Or other compromising acts? I would never hear the end of it from her._

 _Augh… maybe I'm overthinking this. Just be cool. Calm. Collected. Be the Lie Ren that everyone knows-_

The door to his left creaked open, and a raven-haired head with amber eyes popped out of the dorm room, causing Ren to stand up straight against the wall in surprise. Her hair was still visibly wet even though a towel was wrapped around it as some strands were still clumped together, one such group sticking to her left cheek, which she nudged out of the way with a finger; it was obvious that she had just showered.

Neither of them said anything for a good half minute, both of them noting the awkward silence being involuntarily shared. After a few seconds, they were locked in a staring contest, Blake giving Ren a strange look, and Ren awkwardly deer-eyeing Blake while tapping his fingers on the wall.

 _Alright. Remember the lessons you had with Jaune. Ask basic things. Count the weather out; we're indoors. The day has just begun; we can't talk about that. Did I go over the weather already?_

Luckily, before Ren was able to tear himself a new one trying to words, Blake spoke up in a demure voice.

 _Probably to not wake her team up,_ Ren guessed.

"If you're planning on sneaking into our room, you shouldn't make as much noise as you do." She nodded her head towards Ren's fingers, lightly tapping staccato on the thin walls.

 _Oh. Oh, she thinks I'm attempting to break in?_ Ren rose his hands in defense.

"I'm not trying to sneak in."

"I know." She took a step out with one bare alabaster leg, revealing that she was clothed in a towel and nothing more. As only half of her body was visible, Ren assumed that Blake was holding the towel with the other hand, and made the wise decision to not move in front of her. "So why are you here?" Her visible arm was on her hip, looking like a mother scolding their troublesome child. "It's six in the morning."

He started to scratch the back of his neck, a pose vaguely familiar of his team leader's. "Nora may have already informed you but…" Taking a pause, he composed himself. He shouldn't have this much trouble talking to a friend; someone that trusts him with a secret. Shaking his head slightly as if ridding himself of a small headache, he stopped leaning against the wall and stood up straight and tall, putting his hands behind him.

 _Be the green-clad, stoic Hunter-in-training that everyone knows you as, Lie Ren. You can do this._

"If Nora has not informed you already, I will be staying with your team for this weekend. Treating each of you to a 'fun time," he quoted in the air. "And before you ask if I'm joking or not, feel free to ask Nora. I'm sure she'll tell you all the details." A slight frown slighted his face, a natural expression that came along with what he was feeling.

Blake just blinked a few times, staring at Ren like he was a man who had just signed his own execution willingly.

"I'll be right back." With that, her head zipped back into the room, shutting the door behind her quietly. Ren let go a breath that he didn't know he was holding, slumping back onto the wall.

* * *

Inside the dorm room, Blake's back was pressed up against the dorm room's door.

 _I thought Nora was drunk when she messaged us that Ren was going to be staying with us. Oum… this is bad. What do I do?_ Blake remembered that she was still in a towel, which wasn't exactly every-day wear. Walking over to her desk to start changing into her typical outfit, she contemplated what she could do. _Maybe I could just send him off somewhere and promise that I'll tell Nora he ran off to look at..._

She paused. _What_ does _Ren do? He makes pretty good pancakes, but pancakes aren't as good as fish cakes… and it's not like I can ask him to cook all day or something._ After a moment more of thinking, an idea flared up.

"He reads!" Blake said this out loud in her eureka moment, and cupped her hands over her mouth, looking towards Yang to see if she had woken up the not-so-peaceful giant from its slumber. Much to her relief, her blonde-haired partner was still snoring peacefully on her stomach, drool trailing out of the right corner of her mouth.

 _He's the only one that I've seen who really appreciates a good book… Weiss is all about perfection, so she's too busy studying to enjoy some pleasurable reading. Ruby's heart is in the right place, but she can't sit still long enough to read more than five pages… and Yang…_

Blake looked back at her partner, just in time to catch her fart and scratch her butt, earning a smile from her partner.

 _… Yang's Yang. There isn't anything I can say about that one._

Taking a glance down at her scroll, she noticed that five minutes had passed since she started changing. She hurried towards her bookshelf and quickly picked out some titles that she remembered were very engaging. Assorted romantic dramas, comedies, tragedies, non-fiction and fiction. At the end of her collection, she put her own special book at the very bottom; it was noticeably the thickest book there.

It was the latest book she'd started to tackle, a book with no title and a spine made of fairly tattered leather implying decades of wear and tear, but had the most intricate story that she had ever read and the most detailed love scenes that she's ever read, and it was exactly 3000 pages long; she was only a third of the way through. The book itself was apparently so obscure that when searched on RemNet, nothing even came up, leading her to believe that the book was either a limited edition, or removed from the public eye. Whenever she read it, she made sure that she was somewhere obscure, where prying eyes such Yang's bright lilac wouldn't find her and never let her hear the end of how she keeps herself fueled with guilty pleasures…

That only made the book that much more valuable to her, that much more enticing and enjoyable to read. Although Blake was a seasoned (smut) reader, she's been stuck on the book for more than a week and a half now, loving the story-line so much that she's actually gone back and re-read some passages.

 _And I want to find the_ _author,_ she thought to herself. _They must have been a very experienced person. Knowledgeable in many ways… a story filled with tragedy, drama, angst, love and hope… it's a perfect romantic drama._ Frowning, she looked at the cover. _B_ _ut he or she didn't credit themselves. If I could travel back in time, I wish I could ask the person I stole this from where they got it… or even better, travel back to when it was written._

When Blake was done with her mini-swoon over an author she'd never get to know, she took count of the tiny collection she'd assembled for Ren. She had six books, five more than what she usually brought nowadays due to the mega-book that she was currently putting her efforts towards. Breathing in and out in a quick motion, she stacked the books up from smallest to largest, top to bottom, and made her way to the dorm room. Balancing the books on one hand, she opened the door to find Ren standing right across from her, scrolling some random page on his scroll.

"What're you looking at?" Blake still had the books precariously balanced on her hands, but she seemed to pay it no mind.

He glanced up. "I'm just finding a new book to read." His voice remained monotonous and devoid of any charm or joy as he tried to make it look like he was simply swiping through applications with a four-finger sweep.

 _At least he was already planning on reading. Means that I'm on the right track,_ she thought with relief.

Blake decided to play along since whatever he was looking at wasn't any of her business, and she of all people should understand such things. She slightly shrugged her shoulders and replied in the same nonchalant tone. "Alright." After closing the door gently behind her once more, she lifted the books up with both hands.

"Help me carry these?"

"Oh, of course." He tucked his scroll into his sleeve and started to put his hands on the pile of books, top and bott-

 _Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!_

"Uh, actually, I can carry the lower one. Can you just get the top few?" Unlike Ren, Blake has had much more practice keeping a poker face while bluffing, which worked much to her benefit when Ren just nodded and shifted his grip to carry the remaining five books. She noticed that during the process though, his eyes were glued to her new favorite book.

 _Either he's a pervert and likes looking at crotches or he wants to know what the book's about…_

As if answering her question through reading her thoughts, he asked. "That seems like a fairly old novel. Does it have a name?"

"No."

"Hm. Alright." Ren, apparently forgetting about the thick book that Blake was holding to her chest, took on a questioning tone. "So, why did you bring books again?"

"You said that the dare entails that you must have a, 'fun time,' with us, correct?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Well, then I hope you like books. I just so happen to like to indulge in reading." She turned on her heel and started walking towards the library, purposefully walking fast in order to stem any opportunities for conversation, forgetting to mention to Ren that he was already doomed to hang out with RWBY next weekend as well due to an inconvenient event...

* * *

Notes: Ended a bit abruptly. Sorry! I've had some experience with creative writing before, but I've never really found that... oomph to get me started. enter, 'RWBY,' the show that's been sucking up my time since about a month ago with tears of sadness and laughter. and fanfics.

holy crap, lots of fanfics. so I said, hey, why not try it? I'll be adding more; the second chapter is already in the works!

 **And here's the note from 1/9/18 me, saying thanks for reading. have a fun time relaxing in this story!**


	2. That Previous Night

Blake was positively squirming in her bunk, tiny shivers overtaking her body as she kept flipping the pages. Her mind went to a simpler place where its only job was to flip pages, comprehend the words, and repeat the cycle. Each word was an electric tingle as the romantic couple took their relationship to the next level, a step forward into the beautiful world known as-

"Blake? Are you... are you okay over there?" Yang inquired, a concerned look on her face being gradually dampened by a growing grin on her face. She was sitting on Weiss' bunk, something that the heir-apparent would've raised hell for.

"I'm..." She cleared her throat.

 _Calm down, it's just a book. Just a book. Just a book that's filled with beautiful literary art that I can't get enough of._

Blake knew where the story was going from here; it'd evolve into single-minded 'art.' 'Art' that would make any seasoned reader blush.

 _I've read hundreds of these and I still haven't mastered the poker face._

"You're..." Yang smiled. "... Reading porn again."

Blake's eyes went wide as she threw down her book, nearly forgetting to put in her silk bookmark to save her spot for next time.

"Yang, watch your language!" Blake seethed between her teeth. She's never heard Yang say something so obscene in her months of knowing her as her partner.

She just shrugged off Blake's words as if it were a leaf on her shoulder. "Ah, relax. Not like Rubes is here." She patted her hand on the bed she was sitting on, bouncing on it a few times. "Or Weiss."

"It doesn't matter! I told you, it's not..." trailing off, her cheeks put on the slightest nudge of pink, the blood obviously rushing to Blake's head as she composed herself.

"First, it's not 'x-rated material.' It's-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's art, and you can stop whenever you want." She made bunny ears on her stressed words, which only made Blake more flustered.

"I can stop whenever I want," she shot back, forgetting about Yang's first bunny-ears statement.

Yang's eyes shot open adding to her open-mouth grin, the opportunity presenting itself. "So you DO admit that you're reading porn!"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!" Blake yelled, throwing up her hands in exasperation, face shades of red and pink from fuming and blushing.

"EXACTLY!" She fell over on her sides, clutching them as her body was rocked with waves of laughter, blonde mane shaking on the bed.

Oum 'effing damn it Yang, why can't you make sense sometimes? Or be more mature? Or-

Interrupting her internal fuming at her partner, Yang and Blake's scrolls lit up at the same time, indicating that a group chat was made between at least the two of them.

 _It's one in the morning and someone's texting? We already have a RWBY_ c _hat and I've put Ruby on 'Do Not Disturb' due to the insane amounts of photos she takes, so it can't be her, and Weiss doesn't even bother with texting._

 _Taking her scroll out from the space between her bed and the wall, the message_ that was blinking in front of her face surprised her.

Nora?

"k, listen. ren's coming over tomorrow and sunday so get ready1!"

Blake's eyebrows tilted. _What in Remnant is she even talking about?..._

"rules are that he can't find the rest of jnpr for help and he has to make u guys have a good time."

Blake's perplexed reaction only made itself more obvious. Yang, pulling herself out of her laughter-induced euphoria, also took note of Blake staring at her scroll and pulled out her own, still chuckling over her own humor. She read over the messages, mirth leaving her face and the same confused look spreading in its wake.

"i dared him to be more social :)"

She paused, reading the message again. "Dared him to be more... social?" she asked.

Blake's eye twitched but remained silent. _Ren? Dared? What are they doing over there?_

This time, no convenient response came in in form of text.

"M-... maybe she's drunk?" Yang stammered, still at a loss for words.

Before Yang could reply, their scrolls lit up again, both Y and B even more baffled by the sudden mood swing in the message.

"kthxbai hav a gud nite,,! 333 ;)"

After a good minute of complete silence and scrolling through their messages to comprehend what the dust just happened, Yang spoke first.

"Alright. It's..." She glanced at her scroll. "One in the morning. I've received some non-sense from Nora, I embarrassed you about reading your porn again, and I still have to take Bumblebee for repairs and get Rubes a welcome back gift tomorrow." She looked up, giving a thoughtful glance to the bed above her. "It's been a good day today, so... yeah... nope!" With a pop of the 'p', she flopped over on Weiss' bed, and started snoring as soon as her head hit the pillow, a tuft of blonde hair landing on her mouth that rose and fell as she breathed.

Blake kept staring at the words, and after another minute, shut off her scroll and put it back in its normal slot. She heard distinct sounds of (Nora's) laughter emanating from JNPR's room, indicating that she was still awake.

 _It's getting late,_ Blake noted as she looked over at her scroll. _I need my rest. Yang kept me up all night playing that stupid video game and I can barely keep my eyes open right now._

She put her silk bookmark into her literary art (smut) and closed the book with a thwap. She then put it next to her pillow, where she would be able to see/hear if Yang tried to take the book and see what secrets it.

Eyes shut closed.

* * *

 **this intermediary mainly served to show that Ruby and Weiss aren't at the dorm right now. they are currently on a partner bonding mission (which is just a convenient thing I used to make sure I could dedicate a day-per team member on RWBY.**

 **so yeah.**

 **read on!**


	3. It was at this moment: Blake P 2

Birds chirping, sun shining, and a slight breeze gently pushing on the draping curtains that were rolled up into neat bunches near the windows that framed the hallways of Beacon Academy. These were ideal conditions for many activities on a Saturday; one could go for a lovely stroll, smelling the wafting aroma of fresh-cut grass and flowers in bloom. You could have a wonderful picnic, birds chirping around you as your eyes turned skywards, gazing at the clouds and wondering, "Why does that one looks like a peni-"

*ahem*

Piano. Why it looked like a _piano_.

But, if you're two lovable ninjas-in-training, you're gonna say, "lolnop," to all of that, and stay cooped up inside to read books. What a pity.

 **If only the author would do something about it! So, dear reader, take a deep breath and let it out because if you don't you'll pass out, and take another step into...**

* * *

 **Blake's Day Part II: feeeesh...**

The bookworms didn't exchange another word on their way to the library. Blake led the two, and Ren kept up with longer strides, eyes gazing outside through the evenly spaced windows at Beacon when he could just to give himself something to do. The hallways were nearly empty, the only exceptions were a student with a stack of what looked like overdue papers, and a group with a suspicious amount of eggs were the only people they saw. Even while speed-walking, Beacon was a big place, and it took them five minutes of twists and turns to finally reach their destination.

The pair, one clad in green and the other black, stood at one of several entrances to the library. The library itself was empty save for the librarian, humming an old tune to herself while pushing around a cart of old, tattered books around. Without question or a word spoken between them, they walked towards the same table, Blake moving to her favorite spot when she was in the library for casual reading. It was a club chair wedged into a corner, perfect for private reading where people couldn't see what she was reading from behind. The seat was ideal for long periods of reading as well; it was designed for comfort with rounded arms and a seat cushion that made it feel like you were sinking into a sea of fluffiness. Ren took his usual spot at the head of the table, situated where the sunlight could shine through from the windows.

At this point, all stupor and surprise from seeing each other at six in the morning had left them. Blake was back to being a friend of a friend to JNPR, and Ren had regained his composure, along with his quiet demeanor.

"Please." He motioned with a hand towards the chair after setting his books down on the table. No awkward smile, no hitch in his voice nor catch in his throat.

Nodding and quietly murmuring a thank you, she made her way along the table to where she could begin her reading. As she sat down, she relished the feeling of the oh-so-familiar chair once again, and opened up her book to where she left off.

"Thank you for making this easy on me today, Blake." He offered a small smile. "Reading isn't a pastime I get to enjoy with Nora around all the time."

"Don't mention it." She flips another page, not looking up. Her tone monotonous, eyes neutral. "It's a common interest."

He could tell by now that Blake was definitely a seasoned reader; the books she had selected all caught his eye, even the historical non-fiction about a private's experience in the Great War looked interesting. And she had the focus of one as well.

 _Well, focus is a nice word. Ability to tune others out is more like it,_ Ren thought to himself as he picked up the non-fiction book. Opening the book to the back of the front cover, his eyes glazed over the synopsis, and how the book revealed in, "riveting account of the horrors from our ill-fated war." After setting the rest aside in a neat pile for later, he opened the book, and time passed with each flipped page.

* * *

Ren had gotten halfway through the book when Blake asked a question.

"Hungry?" Her eyes only glanced up for a quick second before she returned her eyes to the book.

 _Polite banter. Now this, I can work with,_ Ren related to himself with relief.

Checking his scroll, he noted that it was 9 o'clock, close to three hours since they started reading. "No, thank you. You?"

"I'm good, thanks."

After the ensuing silence took over the reins once more, Ren took some time to stretch out over the back of his chair, fingers interlocked over his head and arms outstretched. Glancing to his right, he noticed the clear blue skies, the flowers offering red, yellow and orange in contrast to the encompassing green grass. Students were enjoying their time off, laughing, chatting, and playing pranks, all with friendly intention.

He could almost feel the wind pushing on his face as his mind took him back to a simpler time, when he and Nora would go outside from dawn until dusk playing outside, catching animals and making them subjects for their queen for a day.

 _We always came back in such dire need of a shower. Especially Nora… I'm still convinced to this day that mud is physically attracted to her._ Ren chuckled audibly, which came as a surprise to Blake when she heard it.

When she looked up, Ren wasn't looking at his book, but outside. His head was slightly tilted, and a slight smile still graced his lips. He was lost in his thoughts, mind pulling back faint visions of rabbit knights and frog peasants via visual cue. Ren's laugh was something that she'd never heard; the same could be said for Ren with Blake. His chuckle was deep, resounding, but quiet and comforting at the same time; it made for a strange combination.

But Blake wasn't the openly-curious person like her team leader or blonde older sister, so she didn't say anything for a bit and kept reading about how the protagonist, who was experiencing a flashback, reminisced about how he was orphaned at such a young age.

 _"Do you really want to know?"_

 _"Please. Alan. Tell me what you saw."_

 _"... I saw fire. You see, a child's memory is a fickle thing, one that does not grasp facts and instead holds onto imagination. But fire was no figment of my creativity, and it burned in my head as it had so easily burned through straw and wood. The screams still echoed in my head, and if I remember anything else, it was the sleepless nights. I would spontaneously erupt into tears, sobs. I would scream and shout for someone. Anyone._

 _And I kept asking myself one question. Why me?_

 _A young child, with no one to go back to._

 _A lost hope, with no one to discover me._

 _A dying star, the magic all but dead inside._

 _So during the day, I took to wandering the lands, scrounging what I could through pity and lu-"_

Another chuckle. Ren was _still_ looking outside, eyes scanning left and right as if he were following something or someone out there.

 _What the dust is so interesting?_ She wondered.

"Something catch your eye out there?" She asked with another glance up. Her voice remained nonchalant. But this time, pale pink didn't come back to meet her amber. They were still glued to the window, eyes flicking left and right as if he were analyzing what he was looking at.

"Hm?" He looked at Blake. "Oh, no, just looking outside." With that, the smile vanished from his lips, and he went back to his book, not noticing the strange look that Blake was giving him.

 _Okay then. That was strange._ If Yang were in her place, she would've kept asking what Ren was so deep in thought about, but then again, she wasn't her partner.

So, she just let it go and went back to her book.

At the other side of the table, Ren wasn't really interested in reading about how, "our ranks got decimated," or how, "our only source of comfort was pictures from home and women from the streets," in his book anymore. He was thinking about the fun he had outdoors, and how he was missing out on it while he lazily glazed his eyes over the words, no longer comprehending nor processing them.

 _Nora's grown on me, Oumdammit. I used to be like Blake, and now I'm like… not-Blake._ He took a glance over at Blake, her eyes still relaxed scanning left to right, legs bent onto the chair and her elbow resting comfortably on the armrest. Ren took another glance out. _It looks so enticing. So pleasurable. So…_

"Blake?"

She glanced up, noticing that Ren had closed his book, and even more notably without a bookmark. "Yeah?"

"Do you stay inside all day?"

"I go to the roof sometimes." She replied as if that was a sufficient answer, returning her eyes to the book.

 _"I brought my hands down to her hips, and she threw her arms around my neck. Her skin emanated warmth; she felt like putty in my hands. We stared into each-other's eyes, lust and longing almost tangible in the air between us. We had waited far too long for this; innuendos and stares that led us to this moment felt like destiny. She knew me inside and out now, my hard exterior and soft interior. I knew her kindness, with a hidden glint of something more dangerous. The attraction only grew stronger, and I felt my knees wobbling as closed the distance between us, her breathing growing errati-"_

"Yang doesn't drag you outside?" He continued his interrogation, not noticing Blake's flash of anger in her eyes as he continued to look at her.

"No." She kept her answer short and curt.

 _"-c. Unstable. As many other things in life. But that didn't matter tonight. As skin touched skin, and sweet nothings were exchanged, nothing mattered. Nothing mattered except her toni-"_

"You should. It's scientifically proven that getting some sunlight every day improves your output on life and encourages healthy habits."

She rose an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I'm currently practicing unhealthy habits?" _I swear, somewhere, somehow, Yang is laughing at me._

He remained unfazed. "No. What I _am_ saying is that we should go outside."

"Why?"

"Because it looks fun."

Blake's eye twitched, and her ears flickered as well. _Did… did Ren just say fun?_

 _…_

 _Lie Ren. Fun. That word didn't even sound right coming out of his mouth._

 _…_

 _What the hell did Yang give me to drink last night?_

"Fun?" She replied, still addled by the fact that Lie Ren had just offered to do something fun.

"Yes. Nora and I would go outside every Saturday to do various things. They all proved to be quite enjoyable. I was just wondering if you were interested."

She put a silk ribbon that she used as a bookmark to hold her spot, grudgingly accepting that she'll have to finish the segment after this conversation. "Allow me to get this straight. You," pointing at Ren, "want to go outside," points, "with me?"

"If you're interested, yes. I was thinking about how I was changed by a bit of lively energy in my life, I thought that it might apply to you as well."

She nodded, already thinking about the sisters in her team. "No thanks. I get enough of that already with the dynamic duo in my team." She reopened her book. But before she kept reading, a question popped into her head.

"Besides, what would we even do?"

"Anything that you would deem interesting, after all, it is _your_ day. But activities that Nora and I would often engage in would be strolls,"

She rolled her eyes.

"Cloud-gazing,"

 _Last time I went with Yang, she made a dirty joke or bad pun about every. Single. Cloud._

"Fishing,"

 _These ideas just keep getting worse and wo-_

"Shopping,"

Her eyes widened slightly. _Wait. Did he sa-_

"Swimming at the beach,"

Her mouth went slightly agape. _Dear Oum._

"And we occasionall-"

Blake cut him off. "Where would you go fishing?" She kept her curious tone, mainly due to the fact that if one fished, the end result would be obtaining said fish.

 _How long has it been since I've had fish? Too long, that's how long. Stupid cafeteria here only offers some atrocity that they pass off as a tuna melt. Trout, salmon, oohhh…_ She swooned on the inside, stomach audibly rumbling.

Ren was slightly taken aback by the sudden question, mirrored by his reaction of bring his head back a bit and tilting it. But he recovered quickly, and answered smoothly. "We went to a small lake, Lake Forrester, that was teeming,"

 _Oh no._

"With hundreds of fish, small to large."

 _Don't you say it Lie Ren._

"Catfish, whitefish, bass, salmon…" He listed them on his fingers, as if he were purposefully trying to make Blake feel the longing in her stomach.

 _please, no_

"We always went home to cook them too. If you're interested and we catch anything..." He was visibly beaming at the thought of being able to cook something other than pancakes.

Blake's lips were pursed so hard together that they formed a very thin line, eyes squeezed shut and fists clenched. If Ren wasn't busy in his speech, he would've noticed that Blake looked like someone who was about to explode. _feeeeshhh..._

"I could prepare some for you. I had this wonderful recipe..."

 _ffeeeee **eeshhhhhh**_

"Nora loved it. It was this lemon butter sauce for salmo-"

 ** _HNNNGGG~_**

* * *

Looking back, Ren realized that it was at this moment, he knew he fucked up.

* * *

"YES PLEASE" She yelled out, before cupping her hands over her mouth and looking around to find the librarian at the other end of the large room, much to her relief.

Ren, however, _did_ hear Blake, and made no show to hide being startled, smile wiped off of his face only to be replaced by a slightly opened mouth. "I-I'm sorry?"

Blake quickly recomposed herself, blinked and shook her head, and tried again. "Sorry. I meant to say that I would like to go fishing." She almost blurred the words together. "It sounds really fun. Can we?"

Ren was still surprised. He blinked twice, but he re-assumed his smile with caution.

"Of course. When would you like to le-"

"We're leaving as soon as we can. Do you need to go shopping for supplies? Weiss won't notice if I borrow some Lien." Blake's eyes had a primal look to them, amber eyes shining through at Ren, staring at him as if he were prey.

 _What's up with her?..._

"I have everything that we need to go fishing at the dorm." Ren remembered the terms of his dare. "But I can't go-"

"Shopping it is. Wait outside the front gate, I'm gonna go get some Lien." As she stood up, she pointed at Ren. "Do _not_ leave without me, Lie Ren." She growled while pointing at him, before ripping Ren's books from his hands and sprinting towards her dorm room, the librarian's half-hearted calls to not run in the hallways falling on deaf ears.

Ren just stood there, arms in the position of handing Blake the books he was borrowing when she ripped them out of his hands, paralyzed. He knew that Blake was a cat faunus, but at the time, he just wasn't connecting the dots.

Poor Ren.

* * *

Blake went blazing through the hallways of Beacon, pushing an innocent bystander to the side so hard that they nearly left a crack in the wall. While the trip to the library had been five minutes, she sprinted it in less than two, barely restraining herself enough to not kick open the door, and twisted the doorknob, only to find it locked.

"Oh come on!" She yelled, exasperated at her luck. _Great, Yang must've left already._ _Now what?_ She considered kicking the door down, but explaining why she did so would be very awkward.

 _Yeah, sorry guys! I had to steal some money from Weiss to buy fishing gear! Forgive me?_

She shook that possibility out of her head, realizing how stupid that sounded.

 _I could go through the window, but that'd involve breaking something too... at least it's not as bad as a door. And I can just say that Cardin threw a brick up here or something. Yes, blame it on Cardin! It'd be dinner and show; I can get my Lien and I can watch Yang beat up Cardin!_

Chuckling evilly to nobody in particular other than herself, she ran off towards the nearest fire escape to reach the roof, books still in hand.

You just don't get in the way of a hungry cat.

* * *

 **and that's chapter two! since this is my first ever real attempt at creating a real story, and not a one-shot, I'm really hoping that i can get some feedback from you guys on how to improve!**

 **also, the reason I wanted fishing antics is because I was so... charmed by Blake in the episode where she fell head over heels with a bowl of fish ramen. it was so perfect, and i just had to get that in here somewhere.**

 **because cute blake is cute.**

 **updated 7/25 for grammar mistakes**


	4. Fishpocalypse Origins: Blake P 3

**Last time on Arrrr-Dubbleyou-Beee-Why, Blake goes crazy for fish and Ren doesn't realize how fucked he is.**

 **You better grab some popcorn. (or fish, if you want to donate to Goddess Blake)**

 **Ladies and Mentlegen, welcome to...**

* * *

 **Blake's Day Part III: _Fishpocalypse Origins_**

*ruby makes dun dun dun dunnnn noises in the background*

* * *

 _It really is a wonderful day outside,_ Ozpin thought, strolling on the paved stone walkway. His cane was in the crook of his elbow, cup of coffee held his free hand. Numerous students greeted him while he was strolling, to which he replied with a nod and a gesture of his mug.

 _Ah, how the campus springs to life… it truly is something to see._ _The sight just warms my heart._ Unlike Glynda, he saw the fact that his students were not fully grown men and women yet; they deserved to have a bit of fun while they still could. Even the seniors needed some downtime. _Besides, it'll be decades until they can settle down again._

It was 9:30 by this point, and the sun was slowly asserting itself as king for the day, the temperature rising with it. Opting to move under the shade for a few minutes, Ozpin sat down on a park bench, put his cane down next to him, and took a sip of his coffee. He's been asked many times what he drinks, and he still doesn't quite understand why. _Do they think it's some sort of drug? I've assured them time and time again that it's just normal coffee. Some have even speculated that I drink whiskey. Silly children._ He granted himself a small smile. _I would obviously pick a fine wine._

He sipped. Putting the mug back in its neutral position, he looked around at the beauty that was Beacon on a spring Saturday.

Moments like these were ones he cherished. Though the teenagers around him would not understand for some time, such relaxation was, and will be, hard to come by. _All in due time,_ he thought to himself. Smiling, he was about to raise his cup to his lips-

To have a pebble fall in it, completed with a tiny 'plunk' sound. He looked up, but saw no perpetrator who deigned to throw rocks in the headmaster's coffee. _How peculiar,_ he thought. _Perhaps Ms. Valkyrie is just making more commotion, shook something loose. It's very plausible._ After all, his first-years this time around had proven themselves to be a very interesting bunch.

He looked down at his coffee with a slight frown on his lips, returning his attention to his beloved joe. _I wonder how clean that rock was. Should I still drink this?_ The brown, steaming mixture still had some bubbles on the surface from when the pebble had made its entrance, but it looked normal otherwise. _This academy is old. Through the years it has stood through thick and thin, endured dangerous storms and well-meaning pranks._

 _The stone is most likely very dirty._

However, his eyes never left the coffee. _But I want it. I_ need _it. It's my life force. This liquid fuels me._ He smiled to himself, pleased with the outcome of the argument against himself. _So_ i _t won't hurt to have a sip then, will it?_

He took a tentative sip. _Hm. Doesn't seem to have a different taste._ He smacked his lips, analyzing the sensory pleasure to see if it was different in any way.

He took another sip, hesitance melting away. _It tastes like my usual grind. Flavorful, strong... wait._ He smacked his lips again. _What is that after-taste? It tastes…_

Anotha' one. _Tastes like…_

He took an even longer sip, drinking up the last dregs of the cup. _My Oum. This!..._ _This is ambrosia! The accent it adds to the natural flavor makes it subtly eye-opening, the aftertastes leaves something to be desired…_ He glanced down at the bottom of his now-emptied cup, and noticed that the pebble was no longer grey, but pure white. Curious, he picked it up from the bottom, trace amounts of coffee still outlining the pearl-like stone.

"Now then, how did you do that?" He wondered to himself out loud, holding the pebble-pearl up to get a better look at it. But before he could continue his contemplation, he felt a rather sizable chunk of… something fall on his head. Lucky for him, decades of being one of Remnant's most experienced hunters made one realize that passive aura shielding was important for whatever you were doing, no matter where you were. He felt the impact and heard the offending object slide behind him and land with a thump. He glanced, and saw that it was a flat slab of stone, grey and faded. Ozpin briefly contemplated putting it in his coffee mug for later, but he decided against it after after reasoning that it was too large.

 _Wait. Chunks of rock falling from Beacon?_

He looked up to confirm his suspicions when another rock, fist sized, fell on his face.

"Oomph!" Yet again, his aura shielded his face from becoming a mix of blood and broken spectacles, but he could still _feel_ the force. After readjusting his glasses, he was met with the most peculiar sight, blinking a few times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him due to advancing age.

 _Ms. Belladonna?_ The sight was unmistakable. Black buttoned vest with coat tails fluttering in the wind, and black stockings that faded to purple the lower they went down her legs. The black bow. All of it screamed Blake Belladonna.

And she was climbing the outside walls of Beacon Academy. After putting two and two together, he realized that she must have loosened some rocks.

 _Is this some unsolicited rock climbing activity that I'm not aware of?_

"Ms. Belladonna?" He shouted upwards, hoping that his voice could be heard all the way up there. When she didn't react, he tried again.

"Ms. Belladonna!" She turned her head, feral look in her eyes, glinting in the sunlight like gems in a dark cavern. Her voice, however, did not imply such hostility.

"Good morning, Headmaster," she called back. She was casually dangling from a ribbon of some sorts in one hand, books and a brick in the other. Her voice remained monotone, but Ozpin could still see an unmistakable drive in her eyes that he'd seen in so many other students when they wanted something done.

"Yes, it is a good morning. May I ask what you're doing up there? I can assure you, the weather down here is just as comfortable as up there," he said with a joking tone, hoping to disarm the strange situation.

"My door was locked, and my scroll ran out of battery." She still appeared calm and quiet, the only indicator otherwise being her eyes.

"I see. And why did you not ask for assistance?"

"Staff was on break."

"Hm." He took an unconscious sip of his coffee, but his lips weren't met with anything except cold porcelain. "And the books?"

Blake began to start swinging, moving her legs to start gaining momentum. "I was reading," she replied, keeping her answers short and curt as she usually does.

"The brick?"

"It was my armrest."

"Hm." Ozpin would've questioned that, but fatigue from going caffeine-free so long clouded his mind. "So you're now resorting to breaking into your room through the window."

"Yes." She was gaining the momentum she needed rather quickly.

"I see." He nearly took a sip from his coffee, but caught himself. Pain blossomed in his chest at full blown realization that he wasn't drinking coffee at the moment. He cleared his throat instead. "You do realize that what you're about to do is a felony."

"Yes." Her eyes were still focused on the window; it was obvious that the headmaster wasn't a priority in her mind at the moment.

Ozpin looked down at his empty coffee mug, craving already setting in. _I either reprimand a student for breaking a window for which one of their teammates could easily replace with a golden one, or I can get myself some more pebble-coffee._

It wasn't a hard decision.

"Carry on, Ms. Belladonna. Have a nice day." As he stood back up and began to walk away, her response came in the noise of her kicking the window open.

Taking out his scroll, he called for Glynda. He was able to reach her after two buzzes.

"Yes, Ozpin?" She was clearly at her desk right now, as he could hear several pencils writing at the same time, along with stamps for grading pounding on paper in the background. Her semblance proved very useful in these situations, and Glynda's mental capacity to micromanage multiple tasks went hand in hand with her inborn telekinesis.

"What are the chances that you would be able to obtain some rocks from Beacon's walls for me?"

The incessant scratching and pounding noises stopped. "You want rocks? For what?"

"For my coffee." He turned on his video camera, and showed her the white pebble inside, a bit of coffee still swirling around the bottom that he didn't finish off. It jingled and clanged as he moved his cup in a circular motion. "You see, it tasted quite nice. You should really try some."

Glynda turned on her video camera. Stared for a few seconds. Blinked at him twice.

And hung up.

He chuckled to himself and began the long trek up to his office, resorting to texting instead.

" **Make sure they're small pebbles, please."**

" _I'm busy, Ozpin. I have no time for your childish games."_

" **I'm hurt."**

" _Good."_ With that, Ozpin noted the message on the screen in red letters, telling him that the recipient had blocked off communications to her scroll for the next hour.

 _Hmph. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed._

 _..._

 _Maybe she just needs some pebble-coffee._

* * *

She landed with a shoulder roll, her aura cushioning the landing on her body. Retracting Gambol Shroud from its position as a stake on the rooftop with a specific tug to dislodge it and sheath it, she brushed off any shards of glass that might have stuck to her clothing before realizing that she didn't actually break the window; in fact, it wasn't locked. _Lucky me,_ she thought to herself as she inspected the hinges, which were still in working condition.

She put the brick and the books on her bed, and made her way over to Weiss' dresser in a few steps. Time was of the essence, but she knew that if she rummaged through Weiss' things carelessly, she might believe that a thief might have entered the dorm, and a full-blown investigation would eventually find Blake as the perpetrator.

 _Not what I want to happen,_ Blake noted to herself as she dug through the dresser, being sure to replace what she moved. She knew that everyone's favorite princess kept a large amount of Lien on hand in case of emergencies, and Blake has observed her tuck it into _something_ each time she took it out and replaced it.

 _Eugh, this feels so wrong. Blake Belladonna, promising huntress-in-training, rifling through her teammate's undergarments._ She stopped going through the clothing and tilted her head. _Then again, it'd be even worse if it were Ruby's. S_ haking her head, she reminded herself that she needed to make things quick. It was amusing, however, to notice that Weiss' bras were remarkable small. She kept this information in the back of her mind, filing it in case of use for a joke or blackmail.

After two more minutes of reminding herself that she's doing this for the fish, her fingers felt the cool touch of metal compared to the soft fabrics.

 _Ah-ha! I have you now!_

She started to carefully move clothing as to not make conspicuous wrinkles, memorizing where they were before she moved them. She knew that Weiss preferred order and organization, and that she would be suspicious if her bras were suddenly on the other side of the dresser. When she saw the familiar metal glint of a Lien card, she moved the final undergarment and pulled it out. But when she extracted the case of Lien, she noticed that it was wrapped in something at the bottom. Something private.

Something she definitely wasn't supposed to see. Ever.

 _i... think i just died a bit on the inside._

For in her hands, Blake was holding lace underwear.

Three pairs, in fact.

And each less protective than the next.

Immediately, she dropped it as if it were a hot potato, staring at it. _Weiss Schnee, uptight, bossy, living manifestation of 1% has... this?_ Blake could feel shivers running down her spine, the mere thought unsettling her. (in a bad way. sorry monochrome fans, but this ain't the fic-tease for you.) _What does she even need this for?_ She slowly picked the lace-wrapped Lien up in her hands, eye twitching and hands trembling.

Blake's mind automatically reverted itself to thinking about worst-case scenarios, namely what would happen if her teammates were to walk in right then and there to catch Blake fondling Weiss' finer undergarments.

Weiss herself would probably scream, faint, wake up to scream more, and call the police. And scream more, most likely adding racial slurs and profanity.

Ruby would wonder what Blake was holding up, the innocent girl unknowing of these risque fashion choices.

Yang would never let her hear the end of it. And probably tell everyone in Beacon if Blake didn't get a handle on her quickly enough.

 _Oum, is this payback for reading all that smut?_ She asked to no one in particular in her head. Taking a deep breath and keeping it there, she noted denominations ranging from one to one-thousand.

She kept it quick and easy, gingerly taking out three one-hundred Lien cards out of the impromptu lace pocket, hoped that it would be enough, and tucked the packet back into its spot with the care of a mother with her baby. She then rapidly refolded the clothing exactly as they were, trying not to touch the lace as if it were lava.

After breathing a sigh of relief, she looked down at the mess on their dorm room floor now. The wood was slightly dented from Blake's drop from the windows, but other than that, the room looked perfectly fine. She shut the drawer.

 _It's all for the fish._ Her stomach growled, reminding her of her true purpose. With that, she opened the dorm room door and slipped out, none the wiser as she set up the perfect day for herself.

* * *

Ren was about to call Blake on her scroll when he finally saw her speed walking towards him, the same glint in her eyes from before. Since Ren already made it outside in wait, Blake flashed her scroll to the guard and stepped out of campus.

"That was fast." He rose an eyebrow when he saw Blake flash the Lien cards. "Does Weiss know?"

She lied. "Of course. We're good friends."

He nodded. "To make things go quickly, I set up a nav-path for our shopping route. It's on your scroll." He paused to let Blake take her scroll out to find the GPS. "How much did you borrow?"

"Three hundred." Blake's eyes were still on the navigation system, but Ren's eyes went wide upon hearing the figure.

"We only need one hundred for the gear, unless you plan on buying the whole ensemble."

She raised her eyebrow. "Ensemble?" She repeated.

"Bug spray, better bait..." It all sounded tedious to Blake. But the prospect of fish laid ahead, and better bait could only improve their chances.

"Alright." She shut her scroll. "Are we going now?" She didn't stop her impatience from bleeding into her voice; she might as well have been tapping her feet and looking at the watch on her wrist that wasn't there.

"If you're ready."

Blake nodded. "We're gonna need to hurry if we want to catch the ten o'clock," as the airbuses came and left on time, no matter the circumstances.

Ren looked down at his scroll. "We have twenty minutes. We can make it."

Blake just shrugged and started walking. (original ending for this chapter, but i decided to continue it from here)

* * *

The thirty minute ride to the commercial district was uneventful. Stepping off of the transport, their clothing rippled in the air as the bus took off once more, making its rounds for the day. After stretching, they both looked down at their scrolls.

Blake spoke up first. "Let's go." Memorizing the path, she shut off her scroll and began walking in the direction of the closest Rem-mart, Ren following close behind.

 _"_ So, why did you want to go fishing?" Ren asked.

"I've never done it before. And I guess you got through to me," lying about how the actual reason was because Blake was a very hungry cat faunus that was deprived of her favorite food for months now.

"You've never gone fishing before?"

She nodded. As a child, she didn't have access to the tools to fish; she either tried to catch them with her hands (which never worked), or she stole for food.

"I can teach you. It's not that hard. I feel that you'll get the hang of it rather quickly."

"Thank you." She smiled at the gesture of kindness, but she didn't do anything else. Her eyes forward, she turned again onto Main St. The sidewalks were busy with people, chatting and strolling, some hand in hand, arm in arm, or alone. Families were a common sight as well, babies in strollers or children holding hands with their parents.

To Blake and Ren, it served only as a sad reminder to their parents.

After a few more minutes of walking, she stopped. "Here." She looked up to confirm, and she was correct. Rem-mart, in big white letters, shone in her eyes. She walked pasted the automated door, and immediately walked towards the fishing section. Ren followed, eyes still narrowed in thought as to why Blake wanted to go fishing so badly.

 _She says it's because she's never done it before, but she nearly sprang out of her seat when I presented the option. Perhaps she enjoys the outdoors more than she lets on?_ Ren walked slowly to Blake's location, where she was currently baffled by all of the fishing-related items, picking up a basket on the way and dropping some anti-mosquito spray into the basket. He was still painfully oblivious to the true reason for why Blake wanted to go fishing.

Poor, poor Ren.

* * *

 _How are there so many of these things?_ She picked one up, and looked at it. Then looked at the others. _They all look the freaking same! They're just different lengths and colors!_

She put down the one she was holding, and went to another one. _At least this one looks nice._ It was mainly black, but it had purple highlights on some sort of spinny thing on the side that vaguely reminded her of Myrtenaster's rotating dust chamber.

"Hello, are you looking for something in particular today?" The voice came from a dark skinned male human, wearing khakis and a white dress shirt and a red tie. The employee looked cheery, but his eyes looked tired, and there were tiny bags under his eyes.

Blake was still holding the fishing rod when her eyes flickered between the salesman and the items on the wall.

"Why are there so many?"

The sales person was taken aback. They didn't really know _why_ there were so many different kinds of fishing poles; they were there to guide people and sell stuff, offering them empty facts that they didn't even know were true or not, then hope to sell it.

"Well, uh, variety is a very important thing to have in a wonderful store such as Rem-mart!"

"You didn't answer my question." The salesperson just opened and closed their mouth a few times.

"Uhm. Lemme go get my manager." Before the skittish man could run off, she grabbed onto his arm.

"Hold on a second. Tell me," she shoves the fishing rod she was holding into his chest, "is this a good fishing rod?"

He looked like a combination of scared and nervous, lip quivering and voice shaking as he spoke, looking down at the rod as if it were a sword being shoved into his hands, then the surprisingly strong grip that the teenager had. "U-u-u-uh, y-yes that-that, this- this is a good rod." She took the rod back, let go, and made a motion for him to leave. The salesperson took the opportunity with gusto, and ran in any direction that wasn't Blake.

A few moments later, Ren turned the corner with a basket of mosquito spray, along with a cooler with built in ice dust, and what seemed to be assorted food items. He saw Blake holding a fishing rod, and he smiled, speaking up.

"I see you've found one." Walking over, he took note of the color scheme. "Looks good." He gestured to the rack on his left. "You're probably wondering why there's so many."

"Yeah."

"It'd take a while. There's differences in the grip, length of the rod, flexibility, and it even depends on the type of fish you're planning on catching. Now, the ideal-"

Blake sighed to herself. _This is going to take a while, isn't it._

* * *

After a small lecture that Blake pretended she heard, it turns out that the rod she picked was perfect for what they were going to do anyway. It wasn't too short like a rod meant for bigger game, and it wasn't too long either. After waking up from her near-dozing state and they were outside, her eyes went to the other bag in Ren's hands, holding bug-repellent and other assorted items such as lures, baits, and sunglasses, which Ren had to force into the basket. Blake didn't like to wear sunglasses as she thought they limited her peripheral vision, but he explained that if she planned on catching any fish, especially mid-day in spring, it would be extremely bright with sunlight being reflected on water. He went on to list various proven scientific facts and trials about eye health until Blake had relented. At the end, it all added up to about 200 lien, and Blake thanked herself in her mind for grabbing enough.

"So, where to now?" She asked.

"We catch another airbus to the agricultural district."

"The agricultural district?" She repeated, readjusting her grip on her fishing rod.

"That's where the lake is. And it's not too far from the pad. It's a popular place, but I have a place that only Nora and I know about."

Blake checked the time. It was now 11:15. "The next airbus leaves in five minutes. Think we can make it?"

He looked at her and deadpanned. "We're hunters-in-training at Beacon. Can we?"

She shot back a sarcastic look. "I don't know, I was asking you, oh great fishing god."

His shoulders visibly shook a bit as he chuckled a bit to himself again, garnering a small smile from Blake as well. "We'd better get moving." He said, feet already moving a faster in order to catch the air bus that would seal his fate for the next eight hours.

Little did he know, that after he started walking in front of Blake, her smile turned into something more sinister. More feral, teeth bared as if she were preparing for a hunt.

 _All in due time, my little fishies. I'm coming for you, and I will enjoy eating you whole..._

She lowered her head slightly and let a small cackle escape from her lips before walking a bit faster to catch up to Ren's longer strides. She wasn't a house cat anymore.

She was a wildcat on the hunt for prey. And she was feeling _ravenous_ today.

* * *

An hour and a half had passed, and Ozpin simply couldn't bear the taste of his normal coffee anymore. He was craving the pebbles, addicted even though it was only his first experience. But he himself had no way to get the rocks, as he had a reputation and image to maintain. Word of the Headmaster chipping rocks off of the walls of his own prestigious academy wouldn't go down very well with the Valean council.

So, he took to standing outside, keeping an eye out for any students that he knew he could trust with this important task. He had decided to leave his mug at his office, its presence only serving to remind him of that godly drink that he had earlier that morning. When students said their polite hello's, Ozpin barely noticed them. His eyes, when they weren't looking for someone to help him fuel his addiction, were affixed to the stone of the academy. He went through numerous reasons and explanations for why the stone had, A) turned into a pearl, and B) made his coffee taste like heaven in a liquid. But nothing came to mind.

However, when he saw Team CFVY, he chuckled at the irony of the situation before calling out for their leader's name.

* * *

 **mah notes: just to let you guys know, there will be five arcs in this story, one for each respective team member of RWBY. the last one is Ren taking them all on, at the same time.**

 **also, i'm a bit nervous about Weiss, but i'll make it work. you shouldn't _beacon_ -cerned.**

 **eh? eh?**

 **get it?**

 **guys?**

 **also, the irony at the end is that CFVY's team name is pronounced "coffee."**


	5. Lake Forrester: Blake P 4

**I wanted to make sure I got this segment of the story right on the head. After all, the previous four chapters were buildup for this… so yeah!**

 **And thank you for the continued support!**

 **Now, without further ado…**

* * *

 **Rave Reviews for this story so far!**

" **Amusing" -frozen thorn**

" **I enjoyed this thoroughly" - ItsN**

" **What are you recording me for again? Oh, shit, right right right. Uh, it was okay I guess? I dunno." - (former) best friend**

" **Looking forward to more" - brandon2071**

" **NORA!" - Nora Valkyrie**

* * *

 **Blake's Day Part IV: Forrester Fish Fry and Festival P.1**

They had made it onto the airbus within thirty seconds of it leaving, rushing on and claiming the only two seats left towards the back. After setting their gear and assorted items on the floor, they sat back and relaxed in the chairs. The pair had to sprint the last two minutes because Ren had to pull Blake aside to look at some algae being displayed at an apothecary, and said more facts about them that were actually fairly interesting until they saw the time.

Blake didn't seem to break a sweat, but Ren seemed more strained.

"That… was… closer than I wanted it to be," he panted between breaths, head bowed and elbows on his knees.

Blake looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "For a guy like you, you sure don't have good stamina."

He looked up a bit to meet her eyes. "You could've gone a bit slower!" He gestured with his hand. Another pant. "And I can do well enough when it matters." Blake didn't try to prove him wrong on that one; she had heard Nora's story at lunch of how Ren took on a King Taijitu during initiation and noticed how Ren did not refute her claims as he usually did, leading her to the conclusion that if the need arises he really could perform when needed.

"Mhm," she said with a faked incredulous tone. Ren just rolled his eyes and sat back while muttering something about natural speed and faunus'. He closed his eyes with a sigh. It wasn't going to be a very long ride, only fifteen minutes compared the previous thirty minute ride, but he started the day early and it was catching up to him.

 _After all, fifteen minutes of sleep is better than none,_ he thought to himself as he drifted off into blissful unconsciousness, the airbus lifting into the air beneath him.

On his right, Blake was still wide awake, eyes scanning.

 _It really is packed in here..._

As she looked around the bustling airbus, visual cues brought back memories of her days as a stowaway by hiding in the massive crowds of people. The interior layout for commercial airbuses hasn't changed since they were first conceived; the seats came in pairs with two pairs in a row, so families of three or more usually opted for taking the seats in the same row or sitting right behind each other. Natural instincts kicked in, and she looked for threats among the crowd. She saw kids playing some new game on their scrolls a few rows ahead of her, parents bickering amongst themselves about school and college, and an old woman that was staring and smiling at her from across the aisle.

 _Staring and smi- wait what?_ She scanned over the crowd of people again, attempting to pretend that she didn't see the old woman. _Why was she staring? Did my bow loosen?_ She casually brought her hands up to her bow as if she were fixing it, making sure that it was still there.

 _My bow's still on, and I'm not suffering a wardrobe malfunction of any sorts… what's so funny?_

She risked another glance towards the old woman, only to discover a little girl sitting on the far side of her who was also staring. The girl giggled when Blake made eye contact with her for a split second, and buried her head into the old woman's arm. Blake could feel herself becoming a bit more agitated, but she kept it inside lest she embarrass herself in a packed airbus by yelling at an old woman and her granddaughter. Trying to give herself something to do, she picked up her fishing rod and pretended to fiddle with it until she heard a frail, but clear voice.

She risked a glance to be met by the old woman's eyes yet again.

"You two make quite the cute couple." Blake's fingers stopped moving, and she froze completely still, brain included, gulping. The old woman leaned forward, and cupped her hand to the side of her mouth as if she were about to tell a secret. Blake turned her head the slightest bit, eyes doing most of the moving. "But if you want to keep it under wraps, you shouldn't speak such words to each other in public. You're lucky only I heard you, young lady."

Blake's eye twitched. Her ears went next. She started to open her mouth, but all that came out was a very hoarse "uh" noise. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"U-uh… I… I'm sorry?" She tried to look as surprised as possible, but the initial shock of the old woman assuming they were a couple was still reverberating through her mind.

The old woman just chuckled. "Don't fret young lady, I thought he'd have more stamina too by the looks of him." She leaned over a bit to look at Ren, who was currently engrossed in a deep slumber, hands folded on his lap and head tilted back. "Mrrow."

Blake was absolutely flabbergasted. It took her a few moments to connect two and two after what the old woman said, and the paralyzation from the elderly woman's first statement only added onto the next one. Finding the ability to speak came after she shook her head vehemently.

"I'm sorry, we're…" She gestured between her and a sleeping Ren, "we're not," she repressed a shudder, "that. We're just travelling together." However, the old lady only took that in stride, eyes alight at seeing a blush growing on her cheeks.

To Blake, it was one of embarrassment and shock.

To the old lady, she took it as a very practiced show of denial.

"It's quite alright honey. I can keep a secret." She winked at Blake, grinning at her all the while. "You're a very lucky girl by the looks of it. I'd keep him."

"I… but…we're..." Blake was out of ideas. The woman had a mind of her own, and she was dead set on it. She sighed in exasperation.

As the old woman opened her mouth, she turned to the little girl. "Granny, what were you talking about?" The she was tugging at the older woman's sleeve, eyes wide with innocent curiosity. She leaned forward to get a glance at Blake and the same thing happened as last time; when they made eye-contact, the little girl hid.

"Nothing dear, you can go back to sleep." After patting the girl gently on the head, she turned back to Blake, eager to continue her questioning. Blake cursed the child in her head for giving in so easily, and not distracting the old woman from her longer.

"So, how long have you two lovely lovebirds been together?" Her attack was unrelenting, and Blake's metaphorical castle walls were crumbling.

 _Oum, I need Ren to tell her that we're not a thing._

"Again, we're not together. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding."

"Ah, of course." She got closer yet again, cupping her hand to the side of her mouth in the secretive fashion yet again. "Okay, I'm closer now. You can tell me."

"Tell you… what?"

The old woman rolled her eyes as if Blake were missing out on something major. "Oh, you young people and your ways… your silly bluffs…"

"Um."

"How long have you two been together?"

"Again," Blake was beginning to regain some of her composure as she spoke, "we're not a couple. We're just travelling together."

"All I'm hearing are excuses, excuses." She reared her head, and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, don't tell me you don't love him because of how he does during the boogie."

 _How who does with the whatnow?_

"Uh… I don't know?"

"Dearie, you can't avoid my question. I've been married for seventy years, and that teaches me how to get what I want. So, how _was_ he?"

Blake was still clueless. "What?"

Going on to enunciate her point, she jived in her chair a bit, wiggling her body with a smile on her lips.

… _what?_

…

 _oh. Ohhh._

 _..._

 _OHHHH. DEAR OUM. REN WAKE UP,_ she screamed in her head, eyes widening at the realization of what the old woman was implying.

So, she punched Ren on the shoulder. When he didn't wake up, she punched him harder, eliciting a shake of his head and a tired mumble that Blake was barely able to make out.

"We're not there yet, are we?"

"No, but there's someone I need you to talk to. Now."

He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them, blinking a few times after that to orientate himself with the world around him. He checked his scroll, and saw that only six minutes had elapsed from when he began his power nap.

"Remember, I'm not allowed to talk to anyone on JNPR. Even Nora." He said, assuming that Blake had a message from Jaune or Nora.

"It's not that." She got a bit closer to Ren, and whispered with a gesture of her thumb. "She thinks that we're together."

Ren looked confused. He looked over at the old woman, who made another 'mrow' noise and scratched in the air. He leaned back, asking himself and Blake what just happened. "What?"

Blake's eye twitched for what must have been the millionth time today. She seethed between clenched teeth. "What do you _mean,_ _what_?" She gestured again with more force. " _She_ ," pointing at the woman, "thinks that _we,_ " she wagged her index finger between them wildly, "are a _thing!_ "

Before Ren could reply, the old woman spoke up first. "Oh dearie, let him be! Look at him, all tired and such. After such a time you two had, you should really let him rest up." Ren looked over Blake's shoulder, and it almost looked like the old woman's grin grew wider.

He leaned back on his seat to face Blake and tilted his head. "What time? Did I miss something?"

She facepalmed before raising her head. "Just tell her that we're not a couple!"

He leaned forward to meet the old woman's gaze, and spoke up. "Uhm, hello ma'am. What she says is true, we're not," he looked towards Blake to make sure he was getting it correctly, "together in the sense of a romantic relationship." He offered a smile to reinforce his argument. "We're simply traveling together."

But no look of disappointment spread onto the old woman's face. Instead, she gently drew a cane from her right side, and jabbed it at Blake's arm, causing her to recoil and bump into Ren. They parted the clothing to clothing contact immediately with awkward sorrys, which served only as fuel for the old woman.

"Look at you two, cuddling so easily!" Both Ren and Blake opened their mouths to speak, but they were abruptly cut off by the old woman. "If you aren't a couple, then I'm not an old woman!" Blake tried to dig deeper into her chair, agitated and embarrassed. "Oh, I would feel shudders if I still could." After the old woman leaned back into her own chair for a few moments, she gasped, eyes widening, and Ren thought that she was about to die from a stroke (which he would be okay with at the moment, as cruel as it sounded), before the old woman gave an open mouth smile. She pointed at them. "I see now! So it's an affair then! Oh, you rapscallions! How do you have such energy… such gall… it almost makes me feel young again!" She laughed again, one of many happy expressions she already made.

Ren's eyes shot open. "No, no no no, no affairs!" He shook his hands in front of him as best he could over Blake as she leaned back, trying to phase through the chair and just magically disappear from the bus. "We're not involved with each other in any way other than traveling together."

The old woman was still unfazed. "Oh come now dear. Look at her, she's embarrassed just by your words!" Ren's eyes went to Blake's, only to be met by a facepalming teenager who was trying to dig herself into her seat. "It works well enough for you two anyway," the woman continued, "the festival has several events made just for couples like you!" She winked.

 _A festival? I don't remember something like that ever coming through here. Perhaps it's new?_ Ren thought.

"Festival?" He repeated.

"Yes! That's what we're making our way to right now!" She stroked her sleeping granddaughters hair, eliciting an inaudible mumble.

"Where is this festival being held?" A part of him really was curious about this festival that he's never heard about, but most of him was grateful for the change in topic.

"Right off the lake, you can't miss it. Even I would be able to see it from miles away with my eyes! Just look for the big glowing fish sign. And you're lucky too; this is the first time they've opened in twenty years!" When the old woman finished her sentence, Blake immediately popped up, blush all but vanishing in the glint of her eyes.

"Fish? What is this festival for, exactly?" She immediately took the reins for the conversation, and was now leaning over the armrest to get closer to the old woman as if she were hanging onto each and every breath.

"It's known as the F-four around here for locals, but to us, it's the Forrester Fish Fry and Festival."

In the time that Blake took control of the conversation, Ren had pulled up a description of the festival on his scroll.

Calling her attention to him for a moment, she took Ren's scroll and read.

" _Enjoy a tradition dating back hundreds of years! The Forrester Fish Fry and Festival is an event that embraces fish as a meal for one day and one day only this year, sponsored by Valean Fisherman's Network! Enjoy a selection of freshwater and saltwater fish that has never been matched anywhere else! Sample the most exquisite fish that money can buy for free! Fun games and contests await those brave enough! And admission is only…"_

Blake's eyes (literally) turned into stars, and she barely kept herself from drooling.

"Uh, Blake?" He was giving her a skeptical look. "Are you alright?" Ren tried to nudge her, but before he could, Blake was grabbing him by the collar of his tunic, all but forgetting about his scroll that clattered to the floor.

" _We are going to this festival."_ She hissed, and the same light in her eyes that he saw in the library was being mirrored here. Her current appearance was the closest he'd ever seen her to primal; her hair was slightly unkempt, teeth bared, and eyes glowing with something he still didn't understand. The fact that she had a lion's grip on his collar only helped her feral appearance.

However, Ren remained calm as he responded. Whatever Blake was going through, he's seen worse with Nora. "So you don't want to go fishing anymore."

She nodded.

He sighed. "Are you sure?"

Shaking him a bit, she tilted her head downwards a bit, eyes gazing upwards. The message was clear.

 _You're going whether you want to or not._

Relenting, he let his shoulders droop a little bit. "Alright."

Pleased with his answer, she leaned back into her chair, relaxed with a content smile on her lips. Ren just picked up his scroll and inspected it for cracks.

"Oh you two…" The old woman trailed off. But she left it there, and she started to comb through the little girls hair.

The situation settling and his scroll free of cracks, Ren leaned back into his seat with a sigh.

 _Maybe I can get some rest now,_ he thought while closing his eyes. But right before they shut, a voice over the intercom announced their imminent arrival at the Forrester launch pad.

"Just my luck," he muttered to himself. Looking down, a problem presented itself. Nudging Blake from her relaxed state, he asked. "If we're going to the festival, what are we going to do with the fishing rods?"

She just shrugged. "We could use our lockers. Take them back to Beacon."

"I'm not sure if that's a logical course of action. For one, everyone here would know we were hunters, or at least hunters in training, and if we were caught sending our lockers to pick up some fishing rods and a bag full of mosquito repellent, that wouldn't look very good."

"Well, what do you suggest?" She said, a questioning look with slight frown on her face.

"I suggest dropping them off at the fishing spot I spoke of earlier and picking them up when we're done."

"That's awfully dull."

"And since when were you interested in exciting things?" He said with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Ever since I got on a team with Ruby," she shot back instantly. Before Ren could continue, the telltale hissing of thrusters could be heard underneath their feet, signalling that they've landed.

The intercom spoke up as people stood up and started grabbing their belongings from under their feet or the overhead compartments. "Thank you for flying Atlesian Airlines. We hope you have a wonderful day!"

Being at the back of the airbus, Ren and Blake were among the last to exit, much to their dismay as the old woman, though repeatedly denying it, was 'accidentally' bumping into Ren from behind to push him into Blake. Feet meeting hard ground, they looked at their surroundings. As people milled around them, a large crowd seemed to be heading in a certain direction. Looking at each other for mutual confirmation, they began to walk over and see what the hubbub was all about.

When they reached the center of commotion, the sight that greeted them was one that was understandably so popular. Next to the escalator that would take them down to ground level, was a large, fenced off cliff edge that allowed for a wondrous view of Lake Forrester.

Ren sighed gently and smiled warmly, as if he were greeting an old friend, mind once again drifting to those memories of snail squires serving their Queen.

Blake had her mouth slightly agape at both the beauty and the thought of how many fish were possibly in the large body of water.

Mostly the fish, though.

But fish aside, the lake truly was something to behold in the midday sun. The water was glistening from their vantage point, gentle currents still rocking the surface of the lake. Each time a ripple was seen, a flash of light could be seen, blinding and beautiful at the same time. Even from their elevated position, they could hear the constant crashing of waves hitting the shoreline. After standing there for another thirty seconds, Ren was the first to shake out of his thoughts, looking towards Blake to tell her that they should get going.

Only to find Blake standing there…

 _Drooling?_

Ren didn't believe his eyes. A foot to his right, was a huntress-in-training salivating uncontrollably. And she didn't even seem to notice, as her eyes were still glued to the water's surface. Her hands, while still at her side, were making some sort of feeble grabbing motion. Noticing that a few people were already looking strangely at his companion for the day, he shook Blake out of her stupor.

"Blake," he said while shaking her shoulder.

She immediately came to, blinking hard a few times before looking at Ren, wiping her drool immediately with the back of her hand. "Wha-?..." She looked around, as if she was unsure about her surroundings, and shook her head. "Sorry. Must've zoned out." She looked down at her hand, and she recoiled a bit as she realized what she had just done.

"I noticed." He cleared his throat, trying to move on quickly from the moment. "We should get moving. If you really want to get to the festival," he lifted up the bags of mosquito repellant, snacks, and their fishing rods, "the faster we get to my fishing spot the better." He turned around, and dropped Blake's bag at his feet.

Blake took her bag in stride, and took one more glance at the lake before catching up to a speed walking Ren.

 _See you soon, fishies._

* * *

The calm before the storm served as a valuable phrase for Ren that day, as the journey to his fishing spot was quite peaceful. It was a small, hidden cove by a section of the coast that was blocked off due to poisonous plants; he had already cleared them years ago though. It allowed for a quiet respite from the crowds that never seemed to shrink, and the view was amazing as well.

 _Picture perfect,_ Blake thought as she looked out at the lake. Ren had explained how he made a small docking area for his own little canoe that he made, and was amazed by how well preserved it was after all these years. While Ren was still walking around lost in his memories, Blake was standing at the dock's edge, shaded by draping willow trees. She noticed how quiet the whole area was even though she could still see crowds milling about on the side of the lake. She also restrained herself from drooling again, as that experience alone was enough embarrassment for a year.

"I assure you, the view at the festival is likely the same or better than here," Ren said. He walked to Blake's side and brought his hands behind him. "But it is nice to visit this place again. Memories truly do linger."

"Good to hear," Blake responded, voice attentive but mind far away as the festival came back into her mind. Tearing her eyes away from her source of fish for the coming hours, she looked at Ren, who once again looked lost in thought. "Hey."

"Yes?"

"We should probably get going."

"Of course."

The pair looked back with a lingering glance, and walked off the dock. As Ren knew the area like the back of his hand, after taking several shortcuts through overgrown greenery and some climbing they were able to find themselves back at the launch pad in no time, and went on the escalator down to ground level. The escalator was obviously created with tourists in mind as well, as it was covered by a half cylinder, allowing one to look at the lake or sky while waiting to reach their destination. Blake could hear multiple people clamoring about the beauty and tranquility of the lake, kids begging their parents to lift them up so that they could see as well, and some strangely obnoxious female voices declaring that they were going to take a selfie.

As they neared the end, a voice on the intercom reminded them of the fact. "The ride is now ending. Please step forward," it droned repeatedly in a mechanical female voice. Stepping off, they were assaulted by the loudness of the crowd. As the escalator dropped people in, tour guides were gathering their groups and salespeople were desperately trying to sell tickets for the festival. Even without Blake's enhanced faunus senses it was loud to Ren. Gesturing to Blake with his hand to follow him, she gladly obliged, a wince on her face that was no doubt due to the loudness of the whole scenario.

He walked them out to a small gift shop where it was significantly quieter inside, gentle pop music playing from the ceiling as a few tourists perused the goods that the store had to offer.

"Oum. that was loud," Blake said while rubbing her bow. Ren felt bad for her; if it was bad for him, it must've been brain-splitting for her.

"I agree." After letting Blake clear her head, he continued. "I wasn't able to see over the crowd of people, so I don't know where the festival is exactly."

"Well," she gestured to the cashier who appeared to be playing a game on their scroll, "we can always ask."

"True." He walked over to the cashier, and rang the little bell on the counter to grab her attention. A freckled, blue haired woman looked up, and she immediately put on her practiced smile.

"Welcome! How may I help you?" The phrase even sounded rehearsed. The same smile was on her face, and while Ren was no psychologist, he could clearly tell it was being faked. But he made the wise decision to keep his thoughts to himself, and got to the point.

"Which way is the festival?"

The lady behind the counter set down her scroll (with great reluctance, he noted), and walked around the counter to stand at Ren's side, pointing.

"You're gonna' need ta' walk through thataways," she said with a point of her index finger.

He copied her motion. "Through the crowd?" He knew that if they had to walk through that noise mixer yet again, Blake would lose her mind.

 _If she hasn't already by the way she's been acting,_ he thought.

"Ye', you're gonna' hafta' walk through it. Ain't no other way."

"Are you sure?"

"Ye', I'm sure bout' it. Afta' you get through the main plaza, take a left. Find the boardwalk, you'll be able to find er' in no time. Just look for the,"

"-giant fish." He finished for her. "Thank you." With that, she walked behind the counter, and started to play her game again with an electronic bopping noise. It was obvious that the lady wasn't going to be a help anymore, so Ren just walked towards Blake.

"Well?" She was halfheartedly playing with some fish figurines.

"We... have to walk through the crowd again."

She gave an exasperated sigh as she turned from the toy. "Really?"

"I'm afraid so." He gestured to the lady over at the counter, brow furrowed as she concentrated on her video game. "She said it was the only way to the boardwalk."

"Oh, really?" She raised an eyebrow when she looked over at the cashier. "Wait here."

Ren had no idea what Blake was about to do, as he thought that he already got all the information he could get. So when he saw Blake pull a 100 lien card from her pocket, his eyes went wide.

 _She's not gonna bribe her, is she?_

As Blake reached the counter, the woman still didn't look up. She pressed the bell, and she could hear the woman mutter under her breath about, "damn tourists." But, she put on the same practiced smile, and the same rehearsed phrase.

"Welcome! How may I he-" Blake interrupted her by sliding the lien card onto the table. The woman at the counter looked up at Blake, down again, up, smiled, slid it under her desk, and whispered something to Blake that Ren couldn't make out from where he was standing. He did see, however, a key that was slid over the table.

Turning around with a smug smile, she brushed past him with ease, sounding pleased with herself as she spoke. "I know which way to go." She opened the door to go outside, bells jingling. Ren just stood there for a second before he caught up to Blake, who was speed walking to a maintenance door.

"Blake, wait." She turned around, eyebrow raised.

"Yes?"

"That was our last 100 lien, unless you're carrying some extra," Ren said.

She didn't reply for a while as she kept walking through the crowd, jumping in between the bumbling crowd with ease. Ren followed with the same grace, and he thought that she didn't hear his question when she stopped walking and turned around. "That wasn't exactly _our_ lien." She put on that same smug grin before she kept walking, and took out the keys that the cashier gave her.

Ren was silent after that, and as Blake was opening the door, he finally found the ability to speak. "What do you mean, not _our_ lien!?"

She turned around and rolled her eyes as the door clicked, lock opening. "As a kid, I learned that flashing a smile and hoping I could get away with it only works with old women."

"Blake, we're esteemed trainees at Beacon! What would be the repercussions if you were to be caught?" He was dumbfounded by her rash behavior, the scolding tone in his voice all but lost at Blake's shamelessness.

"I've never been caught before. I plan on keeping that streak going." She turned back around and walked forward. The interior of the maintenance tunnel was well lit and clean as well, the only evidence of people passing through being the uniforms of various workers and some tools laying next to them.

"Who did you steal the lien from?"

"Some guy on the escalator."

"Some guy?" He repeated incredulously.

"Yeah." Her boots still clicking on the floor, she didn't even spare a glance at Ren to reply. "Don't worry, he looked pretty rich. He won't even notice."

"It doesn't matter if he's rich or not!" He threw his hands up, a rare display of outwards emotion for the stoic teenager. "Stealing is wrong!"

"You sound just like Ruby," she deadpanned.

"Because she's right!" His hands still out at his side, he sighed as he dropped them.

"Mhm," she responded.

"Do not mhm me, Blake!"

"Mhm."

He tried to keep talking, but all that came out was a small, 'I.' He opted for shaking his head instead, thinking to himself. _It's not even noon yet and I've gotta deal with this? This can't get any worse._

* * *

 **my notes: Oh Ren, if only you knew. sorry for the abrupt end, but I wanna save the festival for next part. it's gonna be delicious.**

 **also, between summer homework and drafting other stories for you guys, this took longer than I expected. But because it did, I added a thousand words for you guys. Thank you for all the support so far! I'll have a little scene involving everybody's favorite second-year students (hopefully) tomorrow.**


	6. The Festival: Blake P 5

**I come to you today with more Blake and Ren. Huzzah!**

 **before I let you guys loose onto this chapter, thank you for all the comments, views, and anything like that. makes me feel like a cool kid. *puts on sunglasses***

* * *

 **Blake's Day P. 4: Forrester Fish Fry and Festival P.2**

Making it to the end of the service tunnel, they opened the door to find themselves blinded by the sudden change in lighting. Grimacing and putting their hands up over their eyes, they got a few sidelong glances from passersby as they stepped from the maintenance door, but nobody confronted the two about it. The cashier had followed through with their promise, as they were now at the boardwalk, tour groups bypassed at the main plaza and noise levels significantly lower. After shutting the door behind them, Ren and Blake stepped onto the wooden platform. It lined the beaches of the lake, light shimmering blue contrasting to picture perfect golden sand, making nearly any spot perfect for a photo.

 _All it needs is some palm trees and I would think I'm in an Atlesian simulation_ , Blake thought to herself. As they dawdled on the boardwalk, shopkeepers were advertising their products with a flourish of their hands or messages in the air spelt out in multi-colored dust. Several people were dressed in what looked to be fisherman's garb, offering families a discounted price if they took a picture together.

"Looks like the festival really brings business," Ren said. "Last time I was here, there weren't these stalls," he gestured, "or anything of the sort here."

Blake just 'mmm'-ed, and kept looking around. Unlike Ren, who was secretly window shopping at the stalls with longer glances than usual, Blake was just looking for the large, glowing fish that marked the festival's entrance. Her stomach rumbled again, ushering her to walk faster. As she was walking, multiple vendors showing off their various fish dishes such as fish sandwiches, melts, and kabobs were only making matters worse for Blake and her needs as her enhanced senses focused on the smell.

"Where's that stupid fish?" She muttered under her breath. Looking behind her to ask Ren if he's seen the fish yet, she found him nowhere to be seen. She looked on her other side to no avail.

"Ren?" She called lightly. Her eyes were now scanning for possible assailants, a habit forced into her by living on the run for so many years. She found nothing but tourists milling about. "Ren?" She called a bit louder as worry started growing on her until she heard his voice from directly behind her.

"Blake, I'm right here." He said, walking up with a transparent plastic box filled with fish sticks. Blake sniffed the air. She could smell them from where she was standing, the distinct smell of grease and oil emanated from the container, the very definition of unhealthy. But her stomach grumbled again, and she decided that if she was going to a festival of fish to eat, she could eat a few deep fried fish sticks.

"Ren? Where did you get these?"

"There was a stall over there," he pointed with his thumb to a stall that looked busy frying another batch of fish sticks, "and I heard your stomach growl more than a few times in the tunnel." She cursed herself in her head for embarrassing herself yet again. Sitting down on a bench, he opened the box and grabbed a fish stick, Blake nearly bucking at the knees as her enhanced senses were now focused on the smell of fried goodness in the box. "Besides, I was fairly hungry as well, so I decided I would get a box. Would you li-"

In one of those "blink-and-you-miss-it" moments, Blake dashed to the box's other side, sitting down to grab a fish stick from the box, and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes went wide with delight as she chewed, and that expression turned to one of ecstasy, eyes looking up as she moaned with pleasure.

"-ke one?" He finished his sentence, still holding the fish stick as he watched her lolling head. "Blake? Are you alright?" Ren asked, unconsciously scooting away from Blake and the box of fish sticks.

"Neh'er beh'er," she said as she took two more and inhaled them, chewing a few times before swallowing them yet again. "Sorry," she said while wiping her mouth with a napkin in the box, "You were right, I'm pretty hungry." She grabbed three more and inhaled them, making Ren blink a few times to make sure he saw what he thought he just saw.

 _She didn't even chew those last three,_ he thought to himself in amazement and horror. _Is that even possible? Wouldn't she choke?_

Before he knew it, Blake had already finished the whole box of fish sticks, putting a fist over her mouth to give a small, muffled burp. Looking down at the box with a disappointed look, she looked up at Ren to see him still holding a fish stick, uneaten.

"Are you going to finish that?" She asked, pointing with her index finger.

He gulped. Now, Ren knew that he could say yes, and judging by how Blake reacted to them, he could safely assume that they were at least alright. But the way she looked at him made him change his answer; behind that curious look were two burning embers that implied that something bad awaited him if he denied her the fish stick.

So Ren made the smart decision, and said the right answer.

"No." She smiled at him, as if rewarding him for his correct answer. "You can have it."

Taking the opportunity, she plucked it from his fingers without encountering resistance and took her time with it as Ren spoke up, eager to fill the silence with something other than the sound of Blake munching on his lunch.

"I guess you were fairly starved," Ren said. She finished munching on the fish stick. "I'm hoping they were up to your… standards?" Blake cleaned her hands with another napkin before she spoke.

"Yeah, they were alright." She tossed said crumpled napkin into the box, not noticing Ren making a rare expression; an eye twitch.

 _If she can inhale food like Nora can with pancakes and says it's 'alright', I don't want to be around when she finds something that's classified as 'delicious.'_ He shuddered at the thought.

"But how did you pay for the food?" She was normal Blake now, eyes no longer feral and ravenous, attitude no more lethargic than a sloth's.

He sighed. "You're not the only one who has a few," he cleared his throat as he looked away, " _tricks_ up their sleeve." Upon seeing Blake give him her trademark raised eyebrow from his peripherals, he quickly added onto his previous statement. "Just don't tell Nora."

"Mhm," she said, the same look being graced with a growing smile on her lips.

Turning his head to look at her, he asked quizzically. "What? I felt like I was being subtly outclassed. I had to prove my mettle."

"As a thief?"

"No. As a… borrower. I believe everything makes its way back to everyone eventually."

"I see, _borrower._ Well, it's about time that we got into this festival." She got up, dusted her pants for any lingering crumbs, and walked off as Ren took the empty box and followed, tossing the box into a trash can. "And thanks for the fish."

"Yeah. No problem." _Well, there's a problem about you eating my lunch in the blink of an eye, but no big deal,_ Ren thought.

After a few more minutes of dawdling, delayed by Blake's occasional pause to look at fish tanks or Ren's stop to look at various fish paintings, they finally reached the main gate of the festival. True to the word, they had hung up a large, open-mouthed carp that was flopping mid-air, glowing and blinking with bright neon lights even in the sunlight. People were already coming and going from the gate, coming empty handed and leaving with full stomachs and various fish memorabilia.

"We're here," Ren announced. His eyes looking over several lines, he spied the price for admission on a large display screen. "And admission seems fairly cheap as well."

"Good. I've only got a few extra lien left on me."

"That you stole," Ren reminded her.

"No, I _borrowed,_ thank you very much," she responded, voice monotone but smile growing on her lips.

Ren just rolled his eyes and got to the question at hand. "How much do you have on you?"

She counted. "Four ones, one five. And the one-hundred lien card, if they break change."

Ren looked back at the board for admission prices. "We've got a problem. One, they don't." Blake looked at him, and he continued by pointing at the board. "And two, if you can see that, general admission for each person is five each."

It only took Blake a split second to do the math. "Easy, so we borrow another one."

"No!" He nearly broke his image of being the stoic near-ninja as he was yet again surprised by Blake's mischievous behavior. "Look around. They have guards and cameras set up at every line of sight." She glanced around, and noticed that Ren was correct; androids were scanning through the crowd in key locations that allowed maximum visibility on the most people, and cameras were set up on the ceiling of the admission booths. It was obvious that security was a big deal at such an event like this; people from all over Remnant traveled here just to sample the cuisine.

"Okay, so what's your plan?"

"Don't know. Still thinking. Let's get in line, I'll have something by the time we get there." He motioned for Blake to go first and they got into one of the longer lines, Ren still looking for something that would let them enter his unassuming death trap for the next hours.

Blake was looking around as well as a minute passed, and something caught her eye. "Ren, look." Tapping his shoulder, she pointed to something that was written on an old chalkboard.

" **COUPLES GET IN FOR FIVE LIEN!** " It said in large, multicolored letters.

Ren just looked at her, mystified. "Yes?"

"We can just pretend we're a couple."

Pale pink went wide with shock. "Are you crazy?"

She shrugged. "Possibly. But I'm getting into this festival, and I don't think I can dash past a plethora of androids and cameras without being detected."

Ren remained silent for a moment. He locked pale pink with amber before he spoke. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Then we never speak of this again. You don't tell Nora,"

"And you won't tell Yang? Agreed."

"Lastly, this is merely pretend. Alright?"

Blake scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself, Ren." The line was moving rather quickly, as they were halfway through by this point. The sun was making things rather uncomfortable, but neither said anything about it. Blake's mind was only focused on getting into that festival and trying out as much she could before they ran out or kicked out. _So close to the fish,_ she thought. _I'm coming..._

Before Blake could continue her evil inner monologue, Ren interrupted. "Do you think we should do something that couples do?"

She met his gaze slowly. "What do you mean by that," she said, threatening tone lacing her voice.

He didn't back off as he responded. "Nothing serious. I'm just seeing that quite a number of people seem to be engaging in arm linking or hand holding." He gestured to a couple who were getting their tickets, arm in arm. "Like those people."

"I don't think we have to," she said with a shrug. "We're two teenagers with cool outfits. I think they'll believe us."

"And what does clothing do to affect your decision?"

"Nothing, really. Just makes us look better."

Ren said nothing to that as they stepped up to the booth. The man behind the stand seemed awfully excited, and the grin plastered onto his face was almost uncanny in its similarity to Ruby's when she sees a plate of cookies.

"Hello hello he-llo! Welcome to the Forrester Fish Fry and Festival!" He got a bit closer, making Blake and Ren back up a slight step. "Are you two a couple?"

They looked at each other for reassurance, looked back at the man, and said it simultaneously. "Yes."

"Ah, good good good. Five lien please!" Blake took out the five lien card and slid it over. Inspecting it for counterfeit under a machine, a positive beeping sound came out. "Thank you!" He slid two tickets under the glass, a female face and a male face printed on each with the words, "Couples pass" printed at the top of each. Nodding as thanks, they began to walk off before the man called back at them.

"Wait! I need your names!"

Ren turned back, making Blake turn as well. "I'm sorry?"

The man gestured back, and they reluctantly stepped back to the stand. "Couples are eligible for a contest at six tonight for a once in a lifetime prize!" He threw his hands up behind the glass, eyes going wide as he really tried to sell the concept.

Blake just raised an eyebrow. "Is it mandatory?"

Lowering his hands, he suddenly got closer to the glass, yet again making them flinch back for a split second. "It's not. But the prize is something that will last you a _lifetime._ You'll regret not giving it a try, at least. So, names?"

"Um. Can you give us a second?"

"Sure!"

They backed up a little bit, ignoring the people behind them muttering something about the line taking so long.

"Are we going to enter?" Ren asked.

"It's worth a try. Besides, it can't hurt." The decision settled, Ren began to turn back to the booth before Blake pulled him back. "But I can't use my real name. And neither should you. Hunters in training, remember?" _And I was also a known terrorist of the White Fang,_ she said to herself.

He nodded. "Of course." He paused for a second, eyes narrowing as he thought. "I've got it figured out." He turned back to the booth, Blake diagonally behind him.

"So, are you two going to enter?" He still sounded as enthusiastic as ever, and his smile showed no signs of being strained.

"Yes. She's…" Blake looked at him. "She's Flake Shelladonna and I'm Bie Len." He could see an eye twitch from his peripheral vision, but she remained silent, forcing a smile onto her lips.

"Got it… Flake Shelladonna and Bie Len." Showing no sign of laughing at the absurd names, the man flicked a switch, and a translucent screen flashed to life, blinking their names in large letters. "Is this correct?" Behind them, people were chuckling at the slapstick names that were blinking in large letters.

Ren just nodded, and the screen flicked off. "Thank you! You have now entered the contest! Hav-" He was interrupted by Blake grabbing Ren's arm, pulling him through the gate with ease. Looking on at the strange duo, the old man commented to himself. "What an odd couple…"

After Blake had pulled him for few seconds, she let go. Her face was strangely calm, but her fists were clenched and her eye twitched a few times. " _Flake Shelladonna?"_ She questioned.

"I thought it was a pretty good name."

"It rhymes with my real name. And yours does too, _Bie Len._ "

"Come on. It got us into the festival grounds." He made a sweeping motion with his hand to the open fairgrounds. "Why not enjoy the time here?"

"Because Flake doesn't like her name."

Ren put his hands behind his back, back straightened. "It's done and over with. And it's not like we're going to have our names projected onto a big screen or something of the sort."

Sighing, she conceded. "Fine, _Len_." She emphasized the strange name just to rub it in one more time. "So, where to first."

"It is your decision on where to go first. I'm simply accompanying you."

She looked around to see what piqued her interest, and a sign that said, "Free Samples," caught her eye right away.

"Well then, you're coming with me." She walked off, not even bothering to check if Ren was following.

 _And I thought Weiss was the uptight one,_ Ren thought to himself as he shook his head. Looking up a bit, he saw that Blake was already at her destination, jumping around from stall to stall with uncanny enthusiasm. Atop of the stands stood a tall sign that entailed free samples, along with some diagrams of fish that he's never seen before in his life.

While Ren was still catching up, Blake was still bouncing around the stalls, taking a piece of whatever fish she could find. The people at the stalls looked eager to treat someone as passionate for fish as her, and they gladly gave her second helpings by the time she was done.

"Wow, this is great!" Blake said to a woman behind a stall, beaming smile meeting another.

"I'm glad you like it, sweet'art. What'cha just tried there'll be Atlesian cod, and that other one in your hand, that'll be some Vacuan swordfish."

She tried it. "It tastes like... chicken."

"Well, it is a meaty fish. But you can have it all year 'round, so that's a perk."

"I see. And this?"

"That'll be Mystralian Mahi Ma-"

"Blake?" Ren's voice rang in her head, and she turned around with an armful of free samples.

"Hey."

"What... are you doing with all of those?"

"I'm eating them." As if to prove her point, she took one and popped it into her mouth, the same swoon on her face for a split second before she composed herself.

"I see. If you're still hungry, I can just bu-"

"That won't be necessary, hun," said the woman from the stall. "She can eat all she wants here." Looking at Ren, she asked. "You two a couple? I can tell that you're awfully easy on the eyes..." She winked at Ren, eliciting a very awkward 'um' until Blake saved him.

"Yes, he's with me," she said, answering the question to a degree. "Re-," she coughed, "Len, would you like some?"

Blinking himself out of his stupor quickly, he adapted to the situation. "I'd love some. Thank you." He grabbed some fish from the table, and popped it into his mouth. After chewing a few times, his eyes went wide. He did a full body twitch.

And spit it into the trash can instantly. In front of him, the woman was laughing hard, hand slamming on the counter as Blake stood there horrified as Ren took a sudden interest in the bottom of a trash can.

"Re-" She paused again. "Len! What did you do that for?" _That was perfectly good fish wasted!_ She said to herself. _You served us well in your time of being dead, little fish. I'm sorry this happened to you._

As he attempted to spit out the rest, the woman explained the mishap. "He just tried some pickled herring. For some, it's delicious. Another few say it's an acquired taste. For others, it's..." Ren's retching sounds interrupted her. "... intolerable, to say the best."

" _You think?!_ " Ren shouted, voice muffled yet amplified by the trash bin. After raising his head and taking a deep breath of air, his face turned less pale as he regained his composure. "That was horrendous!"

The woman and Blake looked shocked, the woman faking it while Blake looked genuinely hurt. "You take that back!" They said at the same time, before the woman kept laughing her ass off as Blake stood there, still feeling bad about the wasted fish.

"I'm not apologizing! That..." He heaved another few breaths, "That was a feeble excuse for fish! That tasted terrible!"

After the woman got control of herself again, she grabbed something from under her desk gave Ren a different sample, one that looked coated in an oil of some sorts, but smelled much better than the previous one. "Here hun, try this." Ren hesitated for a moment, and the woman gestured forward with it, encouraging him. "This one's smoked, don't worry. And it ain't no herring this time around."

Blake added on. "If you won't eat it, I will." Ren looked at her with neural eyes as she added on quickly. "Gladly."

Ren took the opportunity to eat something that wouldn't make him throw his insides out, so he took the sample and sniffed it. "Smells like... some sort of salt was used in this."

"It's smoked salmon! Just try some."

He took a bite, and he 'hmmed' in approval. "This is quite nice." He finished the small piece of fish.

The old woman smiled, a genuine one instead of a mirth-filled grin. "I'm glad you like it. It's fresh-caught from our own Lake Forrester," she said.

"Thank you." Tossing the tooth pick and cup into the trash bin, he looked around as Blake asked for the same sample. The whole area was under a large tent, granting relieving respite from the sun, and there were ten stalls set up inside. Each had their own specialty, and this stall that Blake found seemed to be focused on saltwater or anadromous fish. Each also had a fridge behind them, along with a live fish tank sitting at the front. Numerous hand prints from children and adults alike were on them, amazed at the foreign specimens that were brought to them today. Stepping closer, he recognized several species off the top of the head, but many others were kinds that he weren't familiar with at all, even with his vast knowledge of marine life.

Blake tapped his shoulder, and he looked back. In her hands were two small pieces of fish, one half eaten and one uneaten. She gestured the uneaten filet. "You want it?"

Ren was genuinely surprised. In fact, he didn't believe it. "Are you sure?" He asked incredulously.

Her voice remained level as she spoke. "I'm sure. And I might have felt some pity for you when I ate your lunch in front of your eyes so... here." She gave Ren the cup, which he took hesitantly. But she was giving a genuine smile, eyes welcoming and teeth no longer bared in a show of force.

"Thanks." He took it, and bit into the sample.

"It's just some tuna. Won't kill you." She said, proving her point by putting the whole thing in her mouth and chewing happily before tossing it into the trash can.

Ren noticed that the same, warm smile was on her face, and his instincts told him to trust them. Eating the cod and finding it delectable, his smile only grew a bit larger as he swallowed, following Blake and tossing the cup into the trash can. As they started walking off, the woman at the stall called back at them, waving. "Come back again!" They both turned and waved back, a small smile imprinted onto their faces.

After they walked for thirty seconds, both pairs of eyes gazing about the fairgrounds looking for something fun to do, Blake was the one to speak first.

"So, Ren."

"Yes?"

"What's it like, being with Nora all the time?"

Ren shook his head with a chuckle. "I'd bet it's something similar to how you and Yang interact with each other. I stay quiet, she does all the talking, teasing, story-telling, et cetera." He finished with a small upwards wave of his hand.

"I guess that's pretty similar to me and Yang. But you've dealt with her all of your life, correct?" She stopped, and took an interest in some fish-shaped beads as Ren replied.

"Yes, but it's just something that you get used to. Admittedly, it took me a while..." He trailed off when Blake looked at him. "... Okay, so it took a year to even tolerate her. But in that span of time, you find all the quirks of that person. Good and bad." He walked over to Blake, and took a look at what she was interested in at the moment. "How about you? You and Yang."

"She makes too many puns for her own good," she said with a more dull voice than usual. "As I said this morning, I think I've just developed an immunity to them."

Ren nodded. "I feel pity for you. Nora wasn't ever the wise-cracking type of person that Ms. Xiao-Long is."

"Lucky you," she deadpanned. Taking the beads off of the rack, she held them up to her neck. "How do you think these look?"

He glanced at the necklace. "I'm indifferent."

She rolled her eyes. "What great help you are."

As Ren replied, she wasn't sure if the sarcasm registered in his head or not. "Thank you."

Blake put the beads back, and kept their previous conversation alive. "Right there, Yang would've said something like, 'that looks _fishy_.'" Ren chuckled at that lightly, and Blake looked at him like a strange man. "That's funny to you?"

"Sorry. But I understand the joke. You're wearing a fish-shaped bead necklace... fish... fishy..." His voice fell away under the withering glare that Blake was giving him. She didn't say anything, and shook her head with a roll of her eyes before walking away with a chuckle.

* * *

After looking at more fish-related items and artwork, their walking landed them to their next destination.

"Take a look at this," she motioned with her thumb. It was a shooting game, where the contestant had to try and shoot down moving fish with a water gun. There were already kids at the ready, firing off stray shots of water at who-knows-what while their parents were behind them looking on. Ren just raised an eyebrow.

"You want to play that?"

"It looks pretty fun. And besides, the prize is a very large fish plush that I think Ruby'll like." She motioned towards the grand prize, a plush, rainbow-colored fish.

"You're getting something for Ruby?"

"If she finds out I went to a festival and I didn't get her anything, she's going to pull out that wide-eye look of hers."

"Yeah, I understand. I should probably get Nora a prize too... She tore the last one in half."

Blake 'mmm'-ed in agreement as she walked over to the gamekeeper. "Hi. How much does it cost to play this game?"

"Just show me your pass and you're good to go!" He said. Blake produced her pass, and Ren walked up to show his. "Ah, so a couple then!" He smirked. "Aren't you two a bit too old to be playing a game such as this one?"

"There's never an age limit on enjoying oneself," Ren said with a slight smile.

"Well spoken, young man!" The gamekeeper walked them over to two open guns, and walked back to his small podium, pressing the button for the game to commence. As the fish were whirring up under the fake waves, Ren spoke up.

"You do realize that there's only one grand prize, right?"

"Mhm."

"And we both need to get our friends a prize."

"Mhm."

Ren looked at her. "Then how are we-"

His answer came in the sound of water hitting plastic, along with a very childish, 'glub glub glub,' noise as the fish 'drowned'. "You better hope you win then," she said.

He suppressed another eye-twitch, and pulled the trigger without looking, hitting the other remaining fish. "Touché," he said.

"ROUND TWO," the intercom boomed.

* * *

It was an intense battle. A nail biter that was true to its name. Ren and Blake were matched up evenly, each gaining the lead on each other by one fish at the finishing point of each round. A crowd of children was beginning to assemble around them, cheering them on until their parents called or forcefully pulled them away.

"Go ninja-boy! Go go go!"

"No, I want the bow-girl to win!"

"But green-guy is sooooo much cooler!"

"Nuh-uh, the ninja-girl looks way cooler!"

They didn't let the children distract them as they fought for bragging rights and the item that would keep their respective boisterous friend at bay if they won. Each round was fast-paced, and the fish went down as fast as they went up, high powered water hitting its mark. As the last round started, the gamekeeper was already smiling as wide as he possibly could, entertained by the show of marksmanship being displayed in front of him with water guns. The crowd had only grown larger behind them, parents and normal bystanders looking at what the commotion was.

"Ready?" Ren asked. His eyes were still trained on the fake tidal waves, ready to aim and pull the trigger at a moments notice.

Blake didn't say anything as she smiled and looked on. Ren was up by a fish, and she needed to play her best game. _Luckily for me, Yang's taught me a few things about playing dirty,_ she thought to herself. Her plan already set into motion in her head, her grin only grew as she heard the telltale whirring of more fish pop up. Before the fish came up, however, the gamekeeper spoke, pressing a button to put the machines on standby.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I inform you that nobody has ever made it to the final round!" He had put on an announcer's voice right now, holding up a loud speaker as if narrating a tourney. "Place your bets now! They fight for this magnificent, massive, _awesome_ stuffed fish!" The crowd cheered as if on cue, creating a true competitive vibe in the atmosphere.

"WOOOOO I LOVE YOU BOW GIRL!" A boy yelled, much to their parent's embarrassment.

"YEAH NINJA BOY!"

The gamekeeper looked at Blake and Ren. "Contestants! ARE. YOU. READY?"

Looking at each other, they nodded with a confident smile.

The man pressed the button, and a countdown began to play in a booming voice over their heads from the speakers. "FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE!"

As the round started, ten fish came up at once, each being downed within the blink of an eye. The challenge of hitting a moving target proved no problem, and each shot slammed into their target with lethal accuracy, every shot either landing right in the middle or right on the eye. Several '2x' fish popped up towards the back, a stark red compared to gentle blue, and they shifted their bodies, bending at the knees to adjust to gravity's effect on water. The cheering only grew louder as several crabs popped up, each having four hit boxes; they had to be shot precisely on the tip of the claw and edge of the cut-out knees. It proved no problem for Blake, downing her first crab while Ren missed his first shot.

"THE GREEN-CLAD ONE MISSES A SHOT!" Yelled the gamekeeper, throwing his loudspeaker to the winds (literally) and slamming his hand down on the railing in front of him in unbridled excitement. A vague 'ow!' could be heard in the background before it was drowned out by the crowd.

Ren quickly recovered, but lost his former lead due to the loss of momentum. Blake noticed the slip, and almost spared a glance until she heard a dinging noise ring above her head, the tell-tale reminder of the last thirty fish remaining. Ten more fish popped up, two of which were the crabs, and she fired away, each shot hitting their mark. Ren made sure to adjust his aim, and downed his crab with ease. As the last few fish were emerging, the rate slowed, to which the crowd questioned and the man grinned at. He hit the standby button, and both Blake stood straight back up, looking at the man as if he were crazy.

"EVERYBODY, THE FINAL TEN FISH! THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT YOU HAVE ALL. BEEN. WAITING FOR!" The crowd cheered again, causing Blake and Ren to wince at the sudden loud noise. They turned around, and found themselves in the center of a large semi-circle. People were holding up scrolls and babies just to get a good look at the competition, and more than a few children were being held back by their parents to prevent them from latching onto Ren or Blake. "CONTESTANTS, THIS IS WHERE YOUR JOURNEY ENDS. ARE. YOU. READY!?" He was nearly screaming, creating quite the image of himself as he was bellowing, face reddening and eyes wide as he threw his hands into the air as if they were pool noodles. Blake resisted the urge to laugh as he looked for confirmation in their faces.

"It's now or never, Blake. I hope you're ready to lose." She looked over at Ren, a smile on his lips.

"You wish," she shot right back. Blake nodded towards the gamekeeper, and he did a tiny hop.

"THE BLACK-CLAD WOMAN IS READY! ARE YOU?" He pointed a finger at Ren, who nodded as well.

"THEN LET THE BATTLE... COMMENCE!" He slammed his hand onto the button, and the whirring sound started back up. "THREE! TWO! ONE!"

Blake and Ren took count of the opponents that popped up, and found that there really were only ten. They went down in ten seconds, flat. The crowd cheering them on, there was a pause after the last crab was downed. They both spared a glance up, and saw that they were matched evenly, the number blinking in their face. They looked around as another ten seconds passed, the crowd calming down, the gamekeeper still grinning.

Suddenly, a large gurgling noise was heard in front of them, and they nearly backed away from the guns. In front of them was a large octopus with indicated hit boxes all over its body and tentacles. Another one popped up, and the apparent 'boss fish' repositioned themselves to align themselves in front of the duo. A voice, obviously the game-keeper's, boomed over the intercom. "FINAL BOSS! FIGHT!"

They fired off precise streams of water, each hitting their mark. When water met plastic cut-out, a deep rumbling noise could be heard as they saw the octopus slowly descend below the waves, as if perishing. Blake noticed that Ren was leading her by one shot, systematically firing off shots to make sure his momentum didn't stop.

 _It's time,_ she thought. Activating her semblance, she turned the gun towards Ren's octopus, and fired. She left a clone behind to pull the trigger again, and she leapt to another water gun, adjusting her trajectory.

As the shot from Blake's clone was fired, it collided with his, dispersing it in the air. Adjusting to the trickery in a split second, he fired another shot through the water mist, hitting his mark before hearing those fated words.

"GAME OVER!"

He looked over, and saw that Blake had already finished with her octopus, a smug grin on her lips. He looked towards the gamekeeper, hands raised into the air. "That was clearly a violation of the rules!"

The gamekeeper just shrugged. "I never put down any rules."

He opened his mouth to speak, but the crowd started cheering, and his voice was drowned out in the ensuing chaos. After a minute of frantic jumping and ecstatic screaming, the crowd began to disperse, children were pulled away, and they went about their business.

Ren was still disputing the win from where he was standing while she collected her prize to the amusement of the gamekeeper.

"Very impressive, you two! If I had another grand prize left, you two would get one each!" The man said, laughing again as Blake smiled smugly at Ren about her win.

"Too bad there isn't one. But here," she plucked one from the rack, "you can have this one." She tossed it into the air, and Ren caught it with one hand, turned his hand over, and opened his hand.

In his palm was a miniature version of the grand prize, along with a small ribbon for a free soda. "The very definition of a consolation prize. Thanks," he deadpanned.

"No problem. Now," she waved back at the gamekeeper as she walked off, "what's next?"

"Maybe you should ask your fish."

"Wonderful idea. Hey fish, do you think Ren should be less of a sore loser?"

"Pardon me? I am not a sore loser." He crossed his arms and looked away.

"Of course you aren't. Just look at that prize you got there," she said while chuckling.

He sighed. "Let's just get going. We've still got," he checked his scroll, "five hours until the so-called contest that we're supposed to attend, and from the looks of it, this festival is huge."

"That just sounds like good news to me."

"Of course it is." He pointed. "That looks fairly interesting."

"Really? You want to look at artwork in a festival full of food?"

"Art is food for the mind," he said with a raised finger.

"And food-food is for the stomach," she shot back. "Your point?"

He didn't reply in the form of a sentence, but Blake could hear him grumble about nobody appreciating, "a bit of artistic phrasing."

* * *

As they went along, they increasingly noticed that they were attracting attention as a couple. Numerous bystanders whispered among themselves or their partners, and she picked up on each conversation. She was pretending to look at a snow globe that was meant to simulate the ocean when she heard two teenagers in particular bickering.

"Wow... she looks pretty hot." The woman in turn slapped him on the face, and Blake tried to resist the urge to go over there and slap him as well. However, she just stood there and pretended to find another snow globe very interesting.

"Hey!" She looked at him with quite the angry expression.

"What? I can say what I want."

"And I can leave you if I want, you idio- Wow..."

"What?"

"That guy looks pretty hot..." She unconsciously pointed, and Ren must've heard her, looking up and noticing the finger being pointed at him with a curious look before her male counterpart slapped her.

"Hey!"

"What? You did it..." She trailed off as she rubbed her cheek.

Blake walked towards Ren as their quarrel escalated, the same look on his face from when the young woman had pointed at him.

"Blake?"

"Yes?"

"What... was that?"

She smiled. "They're not going to last long as a couple." She said, indirectly answering the question as she strolled right past.

"Would you mind _not_ walking past me each time I ask you a question?"

She turned around, and walked right past Ren again, walking a bit slower as she replied. "Yes."

He face-palmed to Blake's delight.

* * *

 **notes for you guys: thanks for reading until the end! ending's a bit sparse, but I thought it was good comic relief.**

 **remember to do those things that people on youtube tell you to do at the end of EVERY SINGLE VIDEO.**

 **see you on the flip side! have a good weekend. (or weekday, I dunno when you're reading this.)**


	7. Pebble Coffee: Quick n' Easy

**Trying to capture CFVY's essence as a team was a bit difficult for me. I had to shift gears for Velv and Yats. Coco and Fox were a bit easier to me; I just made them the 'you tease me i tease you' partners.**

 **This was originally going to be added onto the end of a chapter, but this little two-shot didn't end up so badly, and I made the decision to make it a chapter on it's own.**

 **Hope you guys like the ending of Pebble Coffee!**

* * *

Being a faunus wasn't easy. Even after they were allowed to live on the mainland, and not the isolated island of Menagerie, they still faced prejudice, and racism was around every corner. Conflicts were always brewing between Humans and Faunus, only serving to heat up tensions. So when she first met and spoke with Ozpin, when she first met her team and watched them beat up a senior when they caught him pulling on her ears on their first week as a team, and when she first met such nice people like Ruby, she had hopes for a much better life for her years at Beacon.

And those hopes were true. She became more and more comfortable around her team, and were the first people she truly opened up to other than her parents. Most importantly, however, she maintained in her mind that Ozpin was a wise, kind, and observant headmaster who truly cared for the wellbeing of his students. He was the first to approach her when she was looking lost at the main gate after debarking from the air bus, and he came by repeatedly to her dorm room to chat with her.

Not much more needed to be said; Velvet loved the community here, and she loved the people.

Coco, Fox, Yatsuhashi, she could trust them with her life.

And she trusted in Ozpin's decisions, as he's never failed them once.

 _I'm starting to rethink that,_ she thought as she picked up some chipping tools from a dusty bucket filled with such items. Her team was undergoing some _bonding_ experience, and since each team member gets to decide what they want to do on their given week, Velvet had opted for a simple walk around the campus. It was enjoyable while it lasted; the students were as lively as the birds, and the whole courtyard just had a friendly, relaxed feeling to it.

So when Ozpin called out for her team leader, she didn't really think much of it.

She sighed, and started to listen to her headmaster.

"This is a very important assignment, Team. I trust that you won't let me down."

"Of course not, Headmaster. We'll get right to it," replied Coco. She was awfully free spirited- like that freshman girl Yang- but as with every student, she listened to and obeyed the headmaster. Picking up the bucket, their team leader got right to work, starting to chip away a small part of Beacon's outer wall.

"Thank you, students." Gesturing with his mug, he walked off.

After standing there for a few seconds, Fox gestured with his hands. "Did he forget about the part where I'm…" He finished by waving his hands.

"Oh, get over it Fox." Reaching down to grab a small pick, she shoved the tool into his chest. "You can do it. Just feel around." She smirked.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're smiling at me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Coco kept chipping the wall with that same grin plastered onto her face.

Velvet looked up to Yatsuhashi, who was looking right back at her already.

"I really don't feel like doing this," Velvet said.

He just nodded in agreement.

She sighed. "Think we could just...?"

He shrugged, face still indifferent as he looked down.

"I know he's the headmaster n' all, but still. Have we got to?"

He shrugged again, picked up a chipping tool, and it fit in the palm of his hand. Looking down at the measly tool, he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I don't think they make Yatsu-size picks. Sorry."

He just shrugged his massive shoulders again, and tried to use the tool, accidentally taking off a rather sizable piece of the wall. Velvet jumped back.

"Ooookay." She gently kicked the rock. "So maybe you shouldn't do this." He just set the tool down gently, and sat down cross legged.

"Hey, don't worry Yats." Fox said. "You're not the only one's who having a bit of trouble over here." He was about to raise a hammer to the chisel before Coco stopped him.

"Woah, woah, woah. Don't wanna hit your fingers, do you?"

"If it gets me out of this, then yeah, actually."

Coco rolled her eyes and repositioned Fox's hands, meeting a bit of resistance but successfully positioned them above the chisel. She then slowly brought down the hammer on the chisel. "Just like that."

"Thank you, _mom_."

She just scoffed. "I raised such a brat."

As her teammates were bickering, Velvet started picking at the rock, shaking her head all the while. "Why does he want these pebbles anyway? He didn't even tell us!"

As always, Yatsuhashi remained silent on the matter.

* * *

"What do you mean, Team CFVY is working for you!?" Glynda was positively fuming, eye twitching as she looked at Ozpin sitting back in his chair, coffee mug noticeably missing from his hands.

"I asked them to help me collect some rocks. I do not understand what you're making such a fuss about, Glynda." He took an imaginary sip of his coffee, leading to another eye twitch from Glynda. "It was perfectly voluntary."

"No, it wasn't! You're the headmaster, Ozpin! It's not like a student can say no to you!"

"But they can."

"They don't know that! Only our seniors do, and Oum-knows where they are all the time!"

"Hm." He took another fake sip of his fake coffee.

"And why do you keep doing that!?"

"Keep doing what?" He took another sip.

"That!" She gestured with an open hand, focused on Ozpin's hand cupped around an imaginary handle.

"Oh, this? I do believe this is involuntary reflexes coming into play." This time, he didn't take a sip, but he noticeably strained against it.

"Ozpin. I seriously think that you have a problem."

"We all have issues to resolve, problems to address, Glynda. That is just how the world works." As he took another imaginary sip, Glynda slapped his hand with her riding crop.

"Ozpin, I'm serious!"

"And I am not joking with you either, dear Glynda. Now, could you please retrieve my cup for me?" He pointed to an absolutely empty spot on the table, face neutral. "Thank you."

She slapped him in the face with the riding crop.

* * *

*spongebob announcer* One Hour Later

"Okay. I think we grabbed enough from the walls."

"You mean, we finished vandalizing our own academy."

"Shut it, Fox. The headmaster told us to do it, so we do it. Capiche?"

"Yes, _mom._ "

"Do you _want_ to be grounded, kid? I've had a bad day already getting all this rock dust in my scarf. It's gonna take days to wash out all of it."

"Oh, the humanity." He made a show of fainting before Coco kicked him in the gut, eliciting a groan.

The two of them bickering a few paces ahead of them, Yatsuhashi and Velvet were each carrying two buckets, the former palming a bucket each while Velvet was barely dragging them along. Looking down and noticing that she was having trouble, he bent over and picked up both the buckets, nearly lifting up Velvet as well as she squealed.

Composing herself, she shook her head. "Phew. Oh, uh, thanks, Yats." She smiled up at him, and he gave the smallest hint of a curve on his lips as he kept walking.

"You know, you, I'm going to see what your full smile looks like one day. Teeth and everythin'."

He kept walking, not showing any signs of registering her words, but she knew he heard her.

"I bet you're just shy. Like me." She kicked a rock as she walked, going surprisingly far. "And you've kept this up for two years, about now." She sighed. "You've got to want to smile! It's fun!" Proving her point, she beamed another smile up at him.

He looked down, narrowed his eyes the slightest bit, and kept looking forward. Still no smile.

"Come on! Can't you just smile once? For me?" Keeping that same smile, she nudged him on the thigh with an elbow, height difference shining through.

He slowed down his walking, set down his buckets, and leaned over. "Perhaps next time," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. Next time? When is that going to be?"

Standing back up, he just shrugged. "Soon," he rumbled gently before picking up the buckets again.

Velvet just frowned slightly, and nudged him again. "When's soon?"

He kept walking, shrugging again. "Soon."

"Urgh."

* * *

"And that is why I have now become addicted to this so called… pebble coffee."

"You had a rock fall into your coffee from an academy that has stood for nearly a century, and decided to drink from it?"

"It tasted perfectly normal initially."

"And then you kept drinking."

"Yes."

"..."

"Before you ask the 'why' again, allow me to reinform you that this coffee tasted like the best drink I've ever had in my years on Remnant."

"You've said that five times already, Ozpin."

"Well, it does deserve the praise."

"Ugh. Why am I the person to deal with your antics all of the time?"

"I'm hurt."

She put her index finger and thumb on the bridge of her nose, then gestured with open hands at Ozpin. "GOOD!"

Before Ozpin could reply, a knock came on the door.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Team CFVY," said a feminine voice from the other side.

"Come in, Team." The door slowly opened, and it revealed CFVY carrying buckets of small pebbles, their team leader and her partner slightly discolored with grey rock dust.

"Good day, Ms. Adel. I'm hoping you completed your task, by the looks of it."

"Yes, Headmaster." Taking the buckets, she lifted hers up. "Eight buckets, as requested."

Glynda was about to explode, but she made the wise decision to keep it inside lest she reveal her hidden fury in front of the students. "Ozpin."

"Yes?" He stood up, and started to walk over to the team, taking a bucket.

"I'm going to need to talk with you in private about these matters."

As he took the bucket back to his desk, Team CFVY noticed as a whole that Glynda was nearly shaking in her boots, face reddening and fists clenched.

Fox nudged his leader, whispering as Glynda's eyes were tracking Ozpin's movement to the coffee machine. "You seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Was that a pun, Fox?"

"No, I'm not joking. I can fucking literally see her aura quaking. It's terrifying."

"Yeah..." She mumbled in agreement. Behind them, Velvet was already wide eyed as she looked at the Headmistress in the state of blowing a fuse.

"Yats? Should we…"

His response came immediately, a low, reassuring grumble that was directed to the Headmaster and Headmistress. "We're going to leave now. Good day." With that, he grabbed his team, and pulled them out as fast as they could, surprised by the sudden jerk of movement by their large swordsman, door shutting behind them with a surprisingly loud slam.

As they regained their balance, Fox was the first to speak, patting his friend's arm. "Thank you man. I thought we were going to start a ten point oh' magnitude earthquake there for a second."

Coco spoke. "Yeah, what was with her anyway?"

"I don't want to know, and I don't ever wanna know," said Velvet.

"Like, I could've cut into that tension with a Oum-damn butter knife! Come on!"

* * *

Back inside...

Glynda had used her semblance to shut the door, but it didn't startle Ozpin as he sat down with his fresh-made mug of pebble-coffee. "See. They know how to leave on their own."

"Don't go about changing the subject on me, Ozpin!"

He took a sip, 'mmm'-ing in delight. "I have not the slightest idea on what you mean."

More eye twitches. "I swear to Oum, Ozpin, you're going to be the death of me."

"Don't say such things, Glynda. They're bad for your well-being." Another sip. "Would you like some?"

"NO! I WOULD NOT LIKE SOME!" She yelled, stomping her foot down and causing everything in the room to temporarily levitate.

Ozpin still looked unfazed, remaining seated and serene as she slowly calmed down, everything returning to its place. Clearing his throat, he spoke.

"Glynda, is it… your time?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You know. Women sometimes have… times of the month where they-"

She walked up to Ozpin and slapped him as hard as she could before storming out of the room.

"I'm still hurt," he called out.

The response came in her slamming the door behind her.

 _Oh, she'll be better soon._

He took a sip.

 _Just give it a week or so._

* * *

 **Oh, Ozpin. I don't know why I like writing him as a guy like this, but it just makes for such a writer's block clear.**

 **Speaking of writer's block, I don't have it anymore! In fact, you'll be getting Blakey tomorrow in all of its glory, and it's clocking in at about 7k words right now. please leave a comment if you'd prefer to have these little humorous shots later on in different arcs! if yes, then I should be able to sneak everyone's favorite monkey-faunus in somewhere...**


	8. The Contest: Blake P 6 (Finale)

**THE LAST PART! this is what we've been waiting for! all... one hundred of you! i think.**

 **eh.**

 **anyhoo, here you go everyone. i hope you had fun with this arc, since the next ones are shaping up to be pretty good too.**

 **it's time to live life i guess. by staying indoors and writing fan fiction.**

 **... i'm gonna go before i question my life decisions even more.**

* * *

 **Where did our brave hero and heroine leave off last time? Oh, right. They had a kick-buttocks water gun battle.**

 **It was good shizzle.**

 **Alright, that's your recap. Enjoy this final part of Blakey's arc with Ren!**

* * *

 **Blake's Day Part IV: The Contest P.3**

Since Blake's explanation on why she basically tolerated Ren's presence, time went by quickly. Engaging in another few 'friendly' competitions, this time with no foul play as Ren made her promise, Ren had found himself another, albeit smaller than Blake's, plush fish. Blake had also won a bookmark, the gamekeeper surprised at her picking the first round prize over the grand prize, a certificate for a free weekend at a Vacuan resort. When the time finally came for the contest, loudspeakers that were formerly playing a mixture of music switched to a woman's voice.

"Would all couples please join us at the staging area for the contest? Would all couples please..." The woman repeated the message a few times before ending the intercom. Blake and Ren looked up, back at each other, and gave a tiny sigh.

"I forgot about that," Blake said.

"As did I."

"You think we should still go?"

He shrugged his shoulders, hands behind his back as he walked and talked. "It's up to you. However, if it is a competition of sorts, I do believe that we would have the best chances of winning."

"And why would that be?"

"If it requires physical endurance, we-"

" _I._ " She interjected with a smile.

He continued. "-would likely win, unless we were facing another hunter or huntress in training, which in itself is highly unlikely. If it had to come down to brawn alone, we would hold up against any opponent unless they happened to be a professional weightlifter."

She nodded in agreement. "But what if it involves things that couples do?"

"Such as?"

"Partner activities..."

He gave a tiny frown. "Hm. Well, if it comes to that, we'll see about dropping out."

"Afraid to get your feet wet, Ren?" She added a grin just to add onto the teasing tone.

"Afraid of being recorded and having Nora or Yang find it on RemTube, actually."

"Good point."

The matter settled, they walked over to the nearest map.

"It says here that the grounds are..." He traced his finger around the map.

"That way," Blake pointed, finishing the sentence and walking off.

"Thank you for waiting," he muttered.

"No problem."

* * *

After they had decided to stop by some free lockers to put their prizes in, there were at least one hundred couples at the staging area. All of them were holding their tickets and moving back and forth on their feet, awkwardly awaiting the contest that they were lured into. Ren and Blake were standing at the edge of the large couples crowd, and they were content to stay there. Both Ren and Blake checked their scrolls, and it was almost time for the contest to take place.

"Well, a minute left. Think they can start on time?"

"I don't know. From the looks of it, no. There's nothing much on stage, at least." Ren was correct, the stage was empty save for a single microphone on a stand, some sort of machine, and a plain table.

"Should we stay?"

"Let's stay for a minute or two. If there's nothing, then we can leave. I'm surprised to say that this contest has piqued my curiosity."

"Same here," she said.

After scanning over the crowd of people, Ren spoke up. "Someone's walking up to the microphone. A woman."

A loud screeching noise could be heard, and several tapping noises were also made.

"Hello? Is- Is this dust-awful thing working?" A few more screeches were made, and Blake resisted the urge to cover her faunus ears. Ren also winced.

"Ugh, come on. The guys told me it was fixed." More tapping, and the crowd was growing restless. A voice cried out from the rest of them.

"YES, IT'S WORKING!"

"Ah. Thank you, person in the crowd! Now then." She cleared her throat. She looked like a woman in her mid thirties, most notably wearing a plethora of ridiculous fish-themed clothing.

"Is... she wearing a fish hat?" Blake asked.

"Sadly, yes." He responded.

"And... a fish shirt?"

"Yes."

"... is she trying to look like an idiot?"

Ren's answer was drowned out by the woman's voice being projected over the speakers. "I'm sorry for the interruption! Uh, to get you all interested again, here's... here's the prize!" A man hurried up to the stage, security from the looks of him, and handed her a massive cooler.

Both Blake and Ren raised their eyebrows, and the couples around them were similarly confused, talking among themselves about the whole situation.

"They're not going to give us a cooler, are they?"

"Nah, there's got to be something in there."

"You sure? So far this contest is a joke with fish-lady up there."

"Shh! She's opening the cooler!"

A click could be heard over the microphone, the sight that met everyone's eyes was a pleasant surprise.

In fact, she hefted the largest fish that Blake or Ren had ever seen.

"In my arms," she sounded like she was struggling, and the same security man came up to help her hold it. "- Thanks Jim; in my arms is the largest fish known to our world of Remnant! Meet the Mystralian Giant Catfish!" As if responding to it being boasted, the fish flopped in their arms, nearly escaping from their grasp. "Weighing in at... a lot of pounds, if you win the competitions today, you can take this home with you! Feed it! Grow it if it still can! You can even eat it!" At that last mention, Blake's eyes went wide.

 _This is what I was born for,_ she thought to herself, eyes focused on the fish. _Target Acquired._

The woman onstage put the fish back into the cooler with the assistance of the security man, and shut the locks. "Now that I've hopefully not lost half of my crowd, let's get the contest going! Our first challenge will actually be a luck of the draw. After all, there are, like, a thousand of you." Grumbling could be heard washing over the people, disappointed in the fact that the contest was down to their luck.

"Take a look at your tickets! At the end of the ten digit serial code on the top of your ticket, there should be four additional numbers in blue. Our first group of people will be the lucky pair in group..." She turned on the machine, and four zeroes popped up in the glass display. Pressing the button, the numbers spun until they slowed down, and stopped. "It looks like we're going to be taking nine-five-one-three! Nine-five-one-three, anyone?" Ren and Blake looked down at their tickets.

"Not us," he said.

"Next, we're having..." She pressed the button again. "Six-zero-zero-two!"

"Still not us."

"One-two-eight-seven!"

Blake and Ren just kept looking at their tickets.

He looked at Blake, who seemed like she was actually hoping to be called, a wince almost formed on her face each time the numbers didn't match with theirs. "Blake, the chances of us actually being called are astronomically low."

"I know."

"Two-seven-six-three!"

"Do you want to go? There's plenty else we can do at this festival."

"Nine-eight-zero-two!"

"Let's stay until they're done calling numbers."

He sighed. "Alright."

"Seven-seven-seven-nine! Ooh, lucky sevens."

Shaking his head, he spoke again. "Come on, Blake. We should get going."

"Two-zero-five-zero!"

Pursing her lips into a slight frown, she looked at the fish in the cooler with longing eyes. _But I want that damn fish,_ she thought to herself. "Let's wait."

Ren just shook his head. "I think I'm going to go. You can find me at the nearest restaurant. I'm pretty hungry."

"Six-four-nine-three!"

As he was turning to leave, he froze.

 _Wait a minute. Is... that?_

Ren looked down at his ticket. Back up at the machine. Back down. And threw his arms up into the air. "Well color my hair blond and call me Jaune," he said, exasperated by their luck. Blake, on the other hand, was already smiling with excitement, eyes widened, and the urge to squeal being suppressed by the remaining flecks of self control that she had.

The rest of the numbers went over their head as Ren still stood there in disbelief. "Did... she actually call our number," he asked.

"Yep," popping the 'p'.

He sighed for what must have been the millionth time that day. "We're staying, aren't we."

"Oh, definitely."

"Well. We better make our way to the stage, then."

"Yeah, you're right." She went onto the edges of her toes, trying to spy the best route.

"We should probably align ourselves with the center of the crowd. It seems as if people have made a makeshift pathway for contestants there." He pointed, and Blake nodded her head in confirmation.

"Alright. Let's go."

They speed-walked towards the outer center of the crowd, and started to worm their way through. Couples were already dispersing from the edges, and the task didn't prove itself to be a gargantuan one until they got closer to the center. As they got closer to the center of the crowd- half way to the stage- numerous catcalls and whistles could be heard from various people, all of which Blake and Ren tried to ignore with down-cast eyes.

"Why is it that everywhere we go, people do these kinds of things?" Blake seethed between her teeth from behind Ren.

"Blake, be honest." Ren was disrupted by a woman bumping into him, muttering a small apology before continuing on his way again. He was fairly sure the woman did it on purpose, but he didn't say anything. "We both qualify as visually attractive people."

"True."

As they entered the center of the crowd, people around them were starting to give the two space as they made their way forward, couples looking at them with envy or jealousy.

"Ugh, look at those two. It's like they're trying to be perfect or something."

"Hon, calm down."

"I can't calm down! Look at how... perfect they are! And it's like that guy's an exact replica of Oum or something!"

"Wha- hey! I'm right here you know!"

"Oh, shut up you idiot."

Upon hearing the argument, Ren tried to walk a bit faster in order to get away from the commotion. Blake just chuckled lightly from behind him, hearing the argument as well, and he spared a glance over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow.

"We have a stronger relationship than those two, and we're not even together."

That garnered a chuckle from Ren as he shook his head. Standing straight up to try and get a better view of where they were, he found them about thirty feet away from the stage. Gesturing for Blake to follow him, he kept walking forward, snaking his way through people to try and make himself as inconspicuous as possible to the people around him. _If I could recommend training for a younger me, I would suggest trying to evade people in a crowd rather than swinging clubs on a tightrope,_ he mused to himself.

The woman, apparently finished with calling numbers, spoke up over the speaker system. "Alright, I see that a lot of you are actually staying! Thank you! We should be receiving our last few contestants shortly, so please bear with us. In the meantime, have you tried our new Fish-dogs? They're like corndogs," she flourished her hands, "but better. And if you stay here until the end of the contest, you get a free box!"

They reached the small staircase that led them up to the stage, the woman still advertising several fish themed items above them. Ren gestured for Blake to go first, to which she gave him a look.

"What a gentleman," she drawled.

"Why thank you. I do try." Putting on a gentlemanly air, standing straight up and putting a hand behind his back, he bowed and gestured.

"Sarcastic. Oh boy." She rolled her eyes with a shake of her head, and went up to the stage. She was immediately met by bright lights and a light-headed sensation, nearly knocking herself off-balance. Ren was also taken off guard by the sensation, shaking his head and putting his hand up over his eyes. Blinking hard to register the spotlight, she heard the woman on stage call out once more.

"Ah, our last pair!" She came up to give Blake and Ren a handshake, to which they shakily obliged. The woman turned her microphone off, and spoke again. "Passes, please?"

They handed her their couples pass and she looked them over. After a few seconds, she smiled and gave them back. "Thanks you two! Best of luck!" She switched the microphone back on, and made a grand motion with her free hand. "Ladies and Gentlemen, our last two contestants! Please, hold your applause."

As per requested, no one clapped. Ren and Blake aligned themselves with the nine other couples on stage, standing at the very edge.

"Thank you, thank you," the woman continued. "Now that we've assembled you all on stage, my name is Jenna. Could we have your names, contestants?"

Blake twitched an eye. _Of course they need our names._ "I told you," whispering to Ren.

"Mmph."

As she went down the line, Blake started to fidget, and Ren bumped her. "What's with you?"

" _Flake_ doesn't want to say her name out loud, that's what's with me."

"We can leave if you want."

Blake's mind and eyes shot to the cooler, reminding her of her true task. "No."

"Alright, then I'll say mine first so they can laugh at mine more. How about that."

The woman was two pairs over from them now. "So you admit that the names are ridiculous."

"Yes. I admit it."

"And you two?" The woman was, as all the employees were, unnaturally energetic and excited. This was only amplified when they were close enough; seeing each tooth shining in their wide grin was a fairly unnerving sight.

"I'm Bie Len," he said with the straightest poker face that Blake had ever seen in her life. He didn't even make eye contact, and kept looking forward.

"Got it, Bie Len." The woman, along with the man at the ticket stand, didn't seem to grin at the comical names. Or in the woman's case, change her grin. "And you, young woman?"

She smiled at Ren, a happy expression that had fangs hidden underneath. "Flake Shelladonna."

"And Flake Shelladonna! Everyone, give them a warm round of applause!" Unsurprisingly, not many people clapped, making for a sparse noise. The couples before them had received more applause, and both of them knew exactly why. "Okay, moving on! We're now going to start on the activities for the contest! Exciting, right?"

Crickets chirped.

"Yup! Alright, our first contest will be a solo activity! Ladies, do you mind if I steal your man for just a few minutes?" She gestured for them to come towards her, and one by one, they started to walk.

Blake nudged him forward, much to his fake ire. "I thought you cared about me," he said, voice nearly dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, I guess you were wrong. Go." She couldn't help but grin. Ren walked towards the woman, and lined up with the rest of the men. Yet again, he was at the end of the horizontal line, the only person next to him being a burly-looking man with red hair and what could've been accurately described as poor clothing choices.

"Alright! Do we have sixteen men up here? Alright, good good. Our first contest will be that of strength!" Ren leaned over a bit, and looked over his possible competition. Other than the man right next to him, none of them seemed to be especially built.

 _I'll be fine as long as I don't get this..._ The man next to him snorted. _... Hunk next to me._

"You will be facing off against each other in a single elimination round with the man next to you. Start splitting up into your groups! Tables shall be provided." Waving her hand over the plain table, it unfolded into a large, feast-sized one.

 _Of course I get Mr. Big guy,_ he thought before he felt someone punch him on the shoulder; it would've knocked him off balance if he didn't have years of training on how to stand upright against Nora's constant and random bear hug tackles.

"SMALL MAN GOING TO ARM WRESTLE BIG ME," the behemoth bellowed.

 _Eugh, his breath is rancid._

"Yes, I guess I am. Shall we?" The behemoth didn't seem to think much of the overly polite behavior, and walked over to a table, slamming his elbow down and putting his fist up.

"COME ON SMALL MAN, BIG ME WANT THAT FISH," he yelled again. "HURRY UP SO YOU CAN LOSE."

"I'm coming. You need not rush." Ren, in turn, gently put his elbow down on the table, and assumed the posture.

"Alright! Has everyone found a table?" A general murmuring of confirmation went to her ears. "Okay, perfect! The rules are simple. Only one round, and whoever's hand touches the table first loses! Fair and simple. Guys, it's all up to you! If you lose, your partner loses too!" She switched off her microphone and made a show of fixing it while she spoke to the contestants. "There are sensors in the table to detect contact. We will know if you are lying." Flashing another smile, she switched on her microphone again. "Alright! The contestants are ready! Let the battle... BEGIN!" Throwing her hand down as if throwing down a flag to signify the start of a race, the sounds of struggling men surrounded her as they tried to prove themselves worthy of their women and a large fish.

Ren, however, waited for a few moments, much to the large man's disappointment.

"WHAT'S WRONG SMALL MAN! SCARED NOW!?"

He replied calmly and coolly. "No. Just preparing myself."

"TO LOSE."

Ren chuckled lightly. "Sure." _Alright, I have to do this carefully. Can't be detected..._ As he went into hand-to-hand man-combat, he gently trickled his aura into his arm to keep it reinforced in case of a sudden burst of strength from his opponent. As he expected, the man didn't wait for a confirmation or a ready signal, and went straight to trying a quick victory. Ren felt the strain on his muscles, but refrained from using more aura until he absolutely needed to. His opponent was still in a deadlock with Ren, face reddening as he held his breath, trying to eek out more strength to defeat the green-clad young man but to no avail.

"HRRRRRGGGG!" The man was obviously straining himself, eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. If Ren wasn't trying to win a fish, he would've found humor in the man's face. But as the man was pushing his limits, so was Ren. He was slowly losing the battle, and the man seemed to notice; leaning his body to the side in order to gain better leverage, Ren struggled to keep his arm up. Making the executive decision to use his aura, he let it flow into his arm, soothing already-aching muscles and gifting him with a burst of strength that his opponent was clearly not expecting, only a twinge of magenta aura visible for a split second. Then, in one swift motion, Ren swung the momentum of the whole match, bringing his fist above the half-way point and across. His opponent nearly lost their balance as Ren slammed their hand into the table, a victorious smile on his face.

After standing back up straight and flexing his fingers, he spoke. "Good match."

"Urrrgh... little man wins. But how!" He didn't seem to be very boisterous now, head slumped forward in defeat and breathing hard. "Your muscles aren't even as big as mine!"

"Size isn't everything."

Shaking his head, the man slowly stood back up and turned around, muttering something about how 'he says that in the bed too' as he lumbered back to his wife. Rolling his eyes, he walked back to the line with the seven other victorious men, all of which looking awfully tired out by the arm-wrestling match. Standing again at the end of the line, he looked back at Blake, who shrugged, looking unimpressed. Turning back around, he directed his attention to the energetic woman that was directing the contest.

"Ah! We have our remaining eight winners! It appears that we've started to separate the wheat from the chaff, now have we?" She laughed to nobody in particular. "Okay, next comes the women! Men, if you could please return to your places?" She gestured, and they walked back to their former spots in line. "This competition will rest on your shoulders now, ladies! You're gonna engage in a contest of the tastes!" Blake immediately started to join the women who were walking into formation, eyes widening in hopes already. "You're all here?" She turned around and counted with her index finger. "Good! Now, what would a fish festival contest be without fish!" At that moment, several people carried on covered platters of what one could assume to be was fish. "In these lies a specific type of fish filet. It's up to you, girls, to figure out what kind of fish it is! They are all grilled, and only seasoned with a light sauce that will not dilute the natural taste of the fish. " She snapped her fingers, and chairs rose from the bottom of the stage to rest at the side of the tables. The attendants rushed over, set down the platters, and opened them, revealing a fairly medium sized piece of fish, along with a pair of silverware. "After all, if you're a true fish lover, you're going to know this fish right away." She smirked, and Blake nearly did as well.

 _Oh, you have no idea._

Only adding to her delight, Blake immediately knew the answer the moment she laid eyes upon her prey. _Swordfish. I should thank that woman from a while ago... the taste, size of the steak..._

"Okay ladies! You have three minutes to cut in, and GUESS! THAT! FISH!" She waved her hand towards the fish platters, and Blake held herself back from dashing to the nearest one. Seating herself at the end of a table, she looked down at her meal. She smiled.

And in the next second, it was gone.

Of course, nobody around her noticed, as they were all focused on cutting into the fish. The contest's host was off chatting with some of the men, but Ren was attentive, and noticed the sudden disappearance of the fish. He tilted his head to try and look underneath her chair or the table, but he saw no fish. Still not connecting the dots, he tried to hiss Blake's name.

"Blake!" She turned around with a wide grin that he would never think he would see on her face in his lifetime. Satisfied, and happy; the smile said it all. He resisted the urge to twitch his eye, or face-palm, and resorted to shaking his head. She turned back, leaning back in her chair a bit. Around her, women were still taking tiny bites of their food, chewing slowly and thoughtfully.

 _Too bad none of them love fish as much as I do. Well, I guess I'd better tell her the fish._

Blake stood up, and walked over to the woman, much to her surprise. "Oh, hello... Flake, right?"

She didn't twitch her eye, but her hands opened and closed into fists for a second. "Yes, that's me. I know what the fish is."

"Oh, really! That's great! Are you finished with your fish?"

She nodded.

"Alrighty! Can you wait..." She checked the timer on her scroll. "Two more minutes?" Without waiting for Blake to respond, she continued. "Thank you!" Turning back to continue her previous conversation, Blake walked back and sat down. The crowd had slowly died down in the staging ground, a few dozen couples still eating fish-dogs and other fish products while chattering amongst themselves, not really paying attention to the competition at the moment.

After a few more minutes of uneventful waiting, the woman finally returned to center stage. She tapped the microphone a few times, and the crowd slowly turned their heads to look at the next event. "Okay! Now that our contestants are finished sampling their fish, they will now whisper what they think it is into my ear! If they are correct, I will give them a thumbs up. Incorrect, and they get a thumbs down, and are eliminated! We're going to go from left to right."

She started at the left end- the farthest away from Blake- and bent over to have a woman cup her hand over her mouth and whisper the answer. Nodding with a smile, she gave a thumbs up, and gestured for her to walk to her male counterpart. She repeated the process with the remaining women, weeding out six of them and giving only one other woman the thumbs up. When she got to Blake, she smiled. "Alright, Flake. And you?"

"Swordfish," she said plainly, not even bothering to whisper as she was the last one to answer.

"Correct!" Again gesturing, she turned back to the crowd. "The fish steak was swordfish! Known for their meaty taste and year-round availability, it's also available here at the festival at our free sampling kiosks! Now then. We're down to..." She counted them with her finger again. "Two couples! Oooh, how exciting, right everyone?"

More crickets. Someone burped.

"Oh, I know right? I'm almost jumpin' out of my fish boots! Available for nine ninety nine at the souvenirs store. Okay, that means that this is our grand FINAL!"

More crickets.

"Our last contest will be a couple activity. They will require cooperation between both members of their relationship," Blake and Ren both looked at each other awkwardly, "as teamwork is everything in a great relationship. Contestants, are you ready!?" Turning around, she had that same open-mouthed smile. The two couples nodded and mumbled agreements before their host took over matters yet again. "Great! First, pair up with your competition."

Ren and Blake tentatively walked towards the two remaining contestants, who were walking hand in hand. The woman was a fairly bulky one, early twenties, purple haired, and of average height. The man was skinny and tall with auburn hair, aged similarly to his partner. They extended their hands, and made greetings while their host waited for them.

"Flake."

"Len."

"Hong, _"_ said the man.

"Violet," the woman said in turn. After a nod of the head and a shake of the hands, their host continues.

"Alright! Now that we've met each other, time to introduce you to the next challenge!" With another wave of her hand, a loud, whirring mechanical noise could be heard from underneath their feet. The crowd looked confused as well, and gasped when suddenly, pillars began to raise from the ground of the contest floor, stretching up at least ten meters. All four of the remaining contestants jumped back immediately, making Ren think for a moment.

 _How did they react so quickly?_ His thoughts were pushed out as a large humming noise could be heard, opaque black force-fields that connected the pillars. A loud, finishing thud could be heard, and their hostess spoke up again.

"Hah! This'll get everyone's attention! In this series of pillars lies an intricate, dastardly labyrinth!" The audience 'ooh'-ed, entranced by the sudden change in pace from dull games to mazes. "Inside, I have put the fish cooler at a specific place in this maze. Finding it will not be enough; you will have to find an exit with the cooler as well!"

Ren rose his hand. "What if we encounter somebody else? Such as the opposing couple?"

"Well, then. You're going to have to find some way to keep the prize, won't you?" She turned towards the contestants, and flashed a different smile than anything else. A sinister smirk was shown, reminding Ren of how Blake had shown a fang-filled smile. She spun back around. "This is no ordinary final contest! If you're one for watching intense, fast-paced chases and possible fights, then you'd better glue your eyes onto the closest screen or the stage."

Blake whispered to Ren. "This is new."

"I agree."

"The mechanics of this labyrinth make it so that after ten minutes, you will be ejected from the maze." She chuckled. "In a rather comical fashion. Now then, who wants to see a wild-fish chase?" Using a play on words with a goose-hunt, the crowd cheered. "Good to hear! Now then, in you go my contestants." She shooed them behind the pillars, where she shut off her microphone again, and smiled. "Stand on a square each please... thank you! Now then. A little reminder. You leave without your partner with the cooler, and you lose. This is about teamwork. Understand?" They nodded. "Good. Give Ozpin and Xander a good show, would you?" Winking, she apparently vanished from sight, leaving the contestants with no clue as to what just happened.

"Wait. Did... that woman just?..." The purple haired woman started.

"How did she know?" Ren said, mostly to himself.

The auburn haired man opened his mouth, but was cut off by a loud, intercom system. "CONTESTANTS! FIVE SECONDS UNTIL THE START! I'd recommend spreading out, no?" Another laugh, and an audible noise of the intercom shutting off.

"Spread out? But there's only one doo- AAHHHHH!" The auburn haired man's shout was joined in by three others as they were each launched into the air... and into the labyrinth.

"Ladies and Gentleman across the festival grounds! Redirect your attention to the screens above if you wish to watch this oh-so impressive performance being taken on by four skilled **Hunters and Huntresses**!"

* * *

Blake landed on her feet, crouched and ready to pounce at anything that came at her. _I guess cats really do land on their feet,_ she wise-cracked to herself.

The interior of the labyrinth was well-lit, black force-fields emanating a low light, white pillars serving to amplify it slightly. Taking a full three-sixty degree look around her, she noticed a drone buzzing several meters over her, camera directed right at her. Looking back down, she made the observation that she landed in the corner, with only one avenue of movement available. Taking a deep breath, she grit her teeth and slowly started to creep through the pathways carved by the pillars and force-fields. _From shadows_ , she thought to herself as she slipped into the darkness that awaited.

* * *

Ren landed on his feet as well, grunting as the brunt of the impact was absorbed by his knees. Hands up for CQC, he scanned around him for possible threats. The only noise he heard was the cheering of the crowd outside, albeit muffled by the pillars. Looking up, he saw a drone hovering silently, camera directed towards him. He gave a small wave upwards, and refocused on the task at hand.

 _I need to find Blake. Her senses could make or break us winning this..._ Looking to his left, then his right, he decided to go down the left side, hands still raised.

 _Extend yourself outwards. Rely not on your sight, but your instincts._ Memories flooded into his mind as training from his younger days resurfaced, and he obliged. Channeling aura outwards, he scanned the area around him for danger with each step, his eyes no longer providing sight, nor ears gifting hearing. Placing his trust in his instincts, he slowly went about his way the labyrinth, not daring to speak a word.

* * *

 _Slam._ A fist connected with nothing but the hard stone of a pillar as another punch was thrown, dodged expertly by what seemed to be a shadow in combat.

"Slow down, would'ya girl!?" He threw another punch, followed by a back kick to try and catch her off guard. She twirled to the side and made a side sweep, knocking him to the floor with a thud. "Urgh!" Standing back up, he shook his head and got his hands back up into a boxing stance, ready to fend off any threat that presented itself. "Come back, girl! Scared!?" He lowered his hands for just a second, and that's all it took for Blake to seize the opportunity.

Golden ember flashed in pitch-black, predatory glint shining in their pupils.

Leaping from the shadows, she started a flurry of low and high kicks, catching her opponent off guard as he blocked each hit with an aura-reinforced elbow or shin. He tried to fit in counters, but each was blocked by a perfectly aimed kick, fists meeting boots with flashes of all-consuming black and fiery red aura meeting each other in combat. After another kick landed, the man slid back, hunched over after the strenuous and aura-depleting scuffle he just endured. Breathing hard, he looked up.

The last thing he saw was two circles of burning gold.

Closing the distance with a clone, she finished with a spinning back fist. The strike made contact with the man's face, and knocked him into the pillar, a crack barely visible from the force. He groaned, tried to get up, and slumped back down, head lolling and mouth agape as he was knocked out.

"Don't call me girl." Blake said, before walking off, clone dissipating into wisps of shadow as she disappeared into the dark once more. _My hunt begins,_ she thought. _I'm coming for you, fish..._

* * *

Creeping about, he continued to extend his senses. He had already avoided a possible interaction with what he assumed was the female part of the enemy duo, and it was quite obvious that she was on the hunt for him. She was following in his path, and he wasn't sure how she was doing it. His breathing quiet, he turned the corner-

And found himself face to face with a purple haired girl. They immediately threw a punch, and both landed, blowing both of them back. She slid on her feet down the hallway, while Ren hit the force-field behind him with a loud thud.

"I've been lookin' for you, kid! You know, you're good at hiding." She rolled up her sleeves, revealing muscled arms underneath. "So let's see if you're any good at fighting."

With a groan, he stood back up and rose his hands to face his opponent. _Strong punches_ , he thought to himself. "Then come on," motioning with an open hand towards him.

Grinning, she got a running start at him before he brought a hand up, and stopped the fist with magenta aura emanating from his hand. A challenging glare was shot in her direction, and his opponent threw another punch. Ren spun around her and rolled away, standing back up immediately to raise his hands into an open-handed stance, placing his feet wider to compensate for the strength-gap.

"Fancy trick. But let's see how long your shield can hold up!" She ran at him again, and prepared himself. Before the punch got into his guard, he channeled another shielding burst of aura, and made a palm strike to her open midsection, the force causing her back up a bit with an 'oomph.' Running again, she let out another battle cry.

Ren just smiled and sidestepped, tripping her. "You could work on your temper," he said.

"ARGH!" Standing back up to face the green-clad young man, he was already in another stance, feet narrower, right behind left, and fists closed; a stance ready for combat. "So you actually want to fight now? Is that it?"

He didn't move, eyes trained on his opponent. She rose her hands as well, and changed her tactics. Shuffling forward with one foot at a time, she edged closer. She threw out fake punches to see if she could break Ren's composure, to no avail. Twitching her eye and deciding that she was done playing it safe, she let loose another right jab, and time felt like it slowed for Ren.

It was a rehearsed technique, something he had learned years ago when his father was still among the living. A fast, quick counter for a punch. Moving to the side, he brought his right hand across his body, blocking the hand away with dark purple aura meeting magenta, similar colors clashing for a moment. As the punch followed through into thin air, he slid his hand down to her wrist, chopped at the back of her head, and slammed her down with a pull in one smooth motion. She collapsed without another sound, face down as he brought his right foot about him, sliding back into the same stance in case she didn't get back up. He stayed there for a good ten seconds, holding completely as he watched her, looking for any signs of movement. When she didn't stir, he finally relaxed his guard.

Ren dusted his tunic off, looked up, and bowed to the camera. The people outside reacted, eliciting a sudden, muffled cheer from the crowd. _I've got to admit. That was pretty cool,_ he thought to himself, smiling as he went looking for Blake.

* * *

"Ren."

He spun around, but didn't put his hands up. "Blake?"

"You sound surprised."

Shaking his head, he let the fact that she slid by him without his noticing it. "Nothing. Have you found the cooler, yet?"

"I was hoping you did."

"Hmph. You couldn't pick up anything?"

"No. Cooler must be sealed air-tight."

"I see. What do you suggest?"

"We shouldn't split up. We can only win if we leave here together."

He nodded. "Right. Well, I already traced my steps, and I estimate that I've covered about a quarter of the maze."

"Same here." She gestured behind them. "This way then?"

"Sounds good." He went first, hands lowered but still ready to flash upwards if need be. Blake followed close behind, walking nearly back to back as she watched their trail.

"Did you run into the other one yet?" Blake asked.

"Yes, actually. I'm assuming you did as well?"

"Yeah. He knew how to channel aura."

"As did my opponent." He stopped abruptly, and so did Blake. Pausing, he kept walking. "They're training at Haven."

"How do you know?"

"Our hostess said, 'Give Ozpin and Xander a good show.' Xander Frehelm is the Headmaster of Haven."

"So we just beat up two students from Haven Academy?"

"I think so."

"Huh. It was..."

"Easy? I agree. But I ensured that she would be out of the fight for the rest of our search."

"Same here."

Ren stopped again, and Blake followed suit. "Intersection. Left or right?"

"Right." He moved, and was met by a pleasant sight. "Found it."

Blake's eyes went wide as she went in front of Ren, and jumped onto the cooler, hugging it as if it were a giant teddy bear. _Finally! Finally I found you!  
_

"Blake?"

"Yes?"

"How do I say this. Now might not be the time for... celebrations..." His voice trailed off as he took a few steps towards her.

She was still hugging the cooler. "Why?"

"Them." He pointed, and she looked up to see two very angry, beaten up people glaring at them from the end of a long hallway. "That's why."

Setting down the cooler, she stood back up. "You're back?"

"YEAH, WE'RE F**KING BACK!"

"She seems very irritated," Ren noted calmly.

"I didn't notice," she deadpanned.

"GIVE US THE OUM DAMN COOLER, GIRL. DON'T MAKE US BEAT YOU UP!" He yelled, shaking a fist in the air.

"How exactly did that go last time?" She called back.

The man on the opposite side growled, and shouted again. "OH, I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THAT ONE, GIRL!" He ran at them, and his female counterpart did the same, both letting loose loud battle cries. What was different, however, is that their auras became visible, and seemed to fuse together to form a blinding mix of bright fiery red and dark violet.

"Get behind me," Ren said sternly. Blake struggled at first, but he won out as she saw the two barreling at them. He bent his knees slightly, and widened his stance again. "You're gonna want to get ready as they make contact. Understand?"

"What about you?"

"I could use a challenge." He solidified his stance, bringing his right foot back a little farther as he gathered the aura necessary to block the duo's attack. "Grab the cooler." She tried to lift it, and it took two tries before she could. "Get ready."

She nodded, not saying another word, formulating a plan in her mind.

The two students from Haven getting closer by the second, Blake used a clone to leap away right as they made contact.

The ground shook as they collided. It was a glorious light show, bright magenta meeting the combined forces of red and violet, the colors meeting in the center as they pushed against each other for leverage. Ren could see the snarling expression on their faces, only vaguely reminiscent of Grimm as they started to win the battle. It was obvious that they didn't care about the cooler now; they just wanted Ren. Bright magenta was slowly fading away, and Ren losing ground as he was slowly being pushed up against the wall. He tried to push back, only achieving a standstill yet again as he felt the strain on his muscles and his aura reserves. He heard a distinct beeping noise from his scroll, notifying him that his Aura levels were at ten percent already; the point where duels would end. But he kept pushing, knowing that Blake was going to shift the scales soon enough.

As if answering his prayers, Blake leapt from the same direction they previously came from, and slammed the cooler into the female's head, knocking her into the man and into the wall. The blow not being shielded by aura, they were knocked out instantly against the wall in a jumbled heap. Ren immediately let his hands drop, and another shock-wave was felt through the ground as the lop-sided duel ended. Breathing hard, he got out three words.

"We won, right?"

Then Ren collapsed, falling face down onto the floor. Blake set down the cooler, relieving the strain on her muscles, and ran to his aid, scanning his body for serious injuries. Much to her relief, he wasn't wounded; he was suffering aura depletion. Looking at Ren, then the cooler, she realized that she wouldn't be able to carry both of them at the same time. Sparing another glance at the fish, then back down at Ren, she made the executive decision to not be an asshole for today. Shaking her head, she picked up Ren, surprisingly light for his height, and started to carry him out.

"I told you that you have terrible stamina," she told an unconscious Ren.

* * *

Finding the exit took less time that she expected, and she dropped Ren unceremoniously, much to the crowd's surprise. She leaned back onto the wall, and slid down slowly as she rested. She heard a 'whoosh'-ing noise, and looked up to be greeted by their hostess yet again, this time dressed in much different attire. A flowing, black cape adorned her shoulders, and her fish-themed shirt was replaced by a black blouse, black fluttering ribbons adorning the collar-bone area. Ridiculous fish pants were replaced with pure white, slim flare pants that didn't open up at the bottom, finished off by a pair of black and white heels. She offered her hand, and Blake took it without question, feeling invigorated the moment she took it.

She blinked hard, and shook her head, feeling brand new. "What did you just do?"

The woman chuckled, a different one from the previous laughs that she did while she was the crazy-fish woman. "I've been trained on how to reinvigorate others with aura. Comes in handy when you have an academy full of students that like rowdy play."

Blake opened her mouth again, but she stopped her with a finger to her lips. "Questions later. I've got a show to finish." She strolled back into the spotlight, and Blake peeked out. Apparently, the crowd had grown by tenfold, and there was now a sizable audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner! She flourished her hand towards Blake and Ren, who was still lying on the floor, and the spotlight shone on them. "Don't worry, the guy is fine," she added on.

Blake didn't know what to do, so she just waved awkwardly.

* * *

In the crowd, there was an old woman with a child. She just smirked and smiled.

"Those two aren't a couple, my old wrinkled butt."

* * *

"We have already medivac'd the remaining contestants. Worry not! Now, let's go for an interview with the winners." She zipped to Blake, and held the microphone to her mouth. "How do you feel about your win?"

"Tired."

"Wonderful! And you, sir?"

"Urrghhhh..." He was still coming to, slowly regaining consciousness from the strain on his body.

"Even better! Now, my dear audience, I must thank you for sticking with us until the end! Please, give these winners another round of applause!" The audience clapped as requested, screams and proclamations of love discernible from the cheering. "Alright, that's all the time we have for tonight! Remember to pick up your free box of fish-dogs when you leave! On behalf of myself and everyone here, have a wonderful evening." She bowed, and the spotlights turned off, shrouding the stage in the dying rays of light from the sun. The shattered moon was already visible in the sky, and the hostess walked back over to Blake. She waved her hand, and mechanical whirring noises could be heard yet again, moving the pillars slowly back underneath the stage, and deactivating the force-fields.

Blake, regaining her bearings, asked. "Who are you?"

"Charlotte Chauvon, Headmaster of Shade Academy. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Blake Belladonna."

She widened her eyes. "You're the headmaster at Shade?"

"Why yes, I am."

"Why are you here? How do you know my name? How did you know I was attending Beacon?"

"I really, really, _really_ like fish. As in, I absolutely adore it. Also, Ozpin told me. And Ozpin told me." She counted each point on her fingers.

"Of course he did."

"Don't harbor hard feelings towards him. It's his duty to inform us about the students he has enrolled each year, regardless of background or race."

She nodded. "I know." Looking towards Ren, she remembered that he wasn't exactly on top of things on his own. "Could you help him?"

Much to Blake's surprise, Charlotte just shrugged her shoulders. "He's fine."

"Urgh..."

Blake looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"See? He's not dead."

* * *

After Ren woke up and they had remade acquaintances, Charlotte explained why she attended the festival, and how she came when she was much younger. The matter of finding each other, however, was pure coincidence, and she had reassured the two students from Beacon of that.

"So that's why I'm here."

Ren spoke. "I see." Everything made sense to the two now, but it still didn't make the situation less strange. "So, are you attending the festival next time as well?"

"I plan on doing so, yes. And you two should as well. Such a cute couple."

Ren opened his mouth, but Blake spoke first. "Thank you. Now, about that fish..." She finished the sentence meekly, pursing her lips and ducking her head a bit.

Charlotte just laughed. "You can have the fish, of course. Not like we can do anything with it."

She smiled. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it. Besides, you two won, anyway. Blew the other two out of the water, if I do say so myself." She sighed. "Oh, if only you two had come to Shade... it would've been grand. But I can daydream another time." Offering another smile, she bowed to them. "Now, I need to disappear."

"Why?"

"Ms. Belladonna, I have an academy to run! I'll see you all in the future. I'm sure of it. Ta ta!" With that, she vanished into a plume of shadow. Blake ran her hand through it, and the wisps dissipated into thin air- save for a note written in cursive.

" _Your prize will be awaiting you at Beacon, Ms. Belladonna,_ " it said.

* * *

"Ugh, Blake, where are you?" Yang had already checked her bed, the library, and the roof. "I wanted to embarrass you more tonight! Come out, come out wherever you are!" After a few more minutes of searching around the empty hallways of Beacon, she finally gave up and returned to her dorm room, jumping up and onto her bed. "Ugh..."

Putting her hand over her eyes, she tried to get some rest. Blake had disappeared when she had woken up, and hadn't gotten any word from her since. It was uncommon that Blake would go anywhere without telling her first, especially after that incident after she ran away from them, and it was getting on her nerves. She didn't text her though; she was afraid that she would be intruding on some private affair.

"I swear to Oum Blakey, if you ran away again I'm going to punch you so hard." She was talking to nobody in particular when she heard a knocking. She immediately sat straight up, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling. "Blake?" She jumped down, and opened the door. "I'm comi-," she opened the door, "-oh." In front of her wasn't Blake, but a random delivery man, and he seemed to be struggling with something. However, Yang made the quick observation of the Shade Academy logo on his shoulder, but didn't think much of it.

"Is this Team RWBY's dorm?" He managed to squeak before nearly losing his grasp on the massive cooler.

"Uh. Yeah, it is. Why?"

"Delivery- oh dear oum- Delivery for a Blake Belladonna?"

Yang's eyes went wide. "Yeah, uh, this is the place."

"Okay. If you can just sign here..." He motioned with his chin to a clipboard attached to the top of the cooler, and bit a pen from his shirt pocket, tossing it between his teeth to Yang. Holding it with a slight look of disgust, she quickly signed, and the delivery boy dropped the cooler onto the floor, making a loud _thud_ noise.

"Alrightthankyoubye," he rushed. Before Yang could say a word in edgewise, the delivery man sprinted off towards what Yang could only assume to be either the roof or the main gate.

"Alrighty then... let's see what's in you," she said, tossing the guy's pen into the trash bin in their room. When she tried to lift the cooler with one hand, she found that she couldn't. "Ooof. You're heavy." She used two hands, and dragged the cooler inside, bringing it to the center of the room before she plopped down, a single bead of sweat rolling down. "What in Remnant's in here?"

Hands finding locks, she unclasped them to find nothing other than the most massive fish that she's seen in her life.

* * *

"AAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Blake busted into the room with two fishing rods in hand, nearly breaking the hinge on the door. "Yang! What's wro-"

"PPPFFFFFTTTTHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Ren poked his head in. "What's so funn-"

More thunderous laughter came from Yang's mouth, and Blake motioned for Ren, holding both plushies, to come in before closing the door behind him. Telling him to stay there, she walked up to Yang, and found that she was rolled over onto her side... next to the fish cooler.

"BLAKE, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS? Oh, oh I'm crying..." She wiped tears away from her eyes, and kept laughing.

"I can explain, Yang." She put up both hands.

"I thought there was something... fishy about you being gone all day!"

* * *

 **That's a wrap, folks. Next is intermission between Blake's arc and Yang's, and then it'll directly segway into the arc of Yang Xiao-Long herself.**

 **I hope you guys have all enjoyed this first arc of my story. I've worked long and hard on this, and feedback would be _greatly_ appreciated.**

 **Much love, much love~**

 **Derp.**


	9. Intermission: BY(R)

**Where'd we leave off last time?...**

* * *

"I thought there was something... fishy about you being gone all day!"

 **oh. right.**

* * *

"Not this again…"

"Come on, Blake!" She was still wiping tears away as she spoke. "You've gotta admit that was a good one."

"No."

"Yes! Absolutely yes. Oh." She looked up, and noticed that they weren't the only people in the room. She stopped sniffling as well. "Hey... Ren."

He waved with the plushy in hand. "Hello, Yang."

"So... whatcha doing here?"

"I'd best let Blake explain for me."

Blonde eyebrows went higher. "You're gonna make Blake do the talking? Yowch, what'd she do to deserve that?"

"I didn't do anything, Yang. Do you remember last night? How Nora texted us about Ren spending the weekend with us?"

Ren groaned lightly. "She texted you?"

"Yeah, she did!" Ren made a wincing expression as she continued. "I remember! She texted all of us at like, one in the morning. It was weird. She got all cranky at the end, right after I said that you were good-lookin' out loud. I thought she heard me or something!"

Ren just sighed, Yang's blunt honesty seemingly not fazing him. "While _that_ was a matter of coincidence, I would recommend you not let her hear you say that in her presence."

"How come? It's not like you guys are 'together-together,' right?" She used bunny ears just to get the words across.

"That's true. We're not together in the romantic sense. But she's…" He frowned slightly. "… protective."

Blake rose an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nora's been like this since we were children. She was always the type of person to look out for me. She felt like she had to, after everything I did for her."

Blake, standing off to the side, filed in the back of her mind the information that Ren'd just divulged. Yang, however, just kept on her speel. "Oh. So, it's just normal for her to get super cranky if she sees you with a girl?"

"I'm afraid so," he nodded.

"Wow. How'dya deal with that for like, ten years?"

"I tried to separate myself from as many members of the opposite sex as possible. It was easier to do when I had Nora following me around with a huge hammer in hand for the past few years."

"So what about Pyrrha?" Blake asked.

 _After all,_ Blake thought, _if Nora's protecting Ren from 'threats,' then Pyrrha seems to be a red alert... they live together, sleep in the same room..._

"She doesn't have to worry about her."

"Why's that?" Yang followed up, taking the words right out of Blake's mouth.

"Team secret," he said with a shrug.

"Secret? Aww."

"And us? You just spent a whole day with me," Blake said.

"She doesn't see you, Ruby, or Weiss as a threat."

Yang blinked a few times. "Wait a sec, why am I not included in that list?!"

"She's heard rumors of your voracious appetites for the..." He cleared his throat. "Unsavory."

"Oh, come on! It was just one guy! And we didn't even do the... do!"

"Yang, that's disgusting," Blake said.

"But we didn't even-"

"I understand, Yang." He gave a small smile with a shrug. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't see you as a threat either."

"Good. Don't need everyone around here thinking I'm some sorta' man-magnet..."

Ren and Blake shared an awkward look and made the silent and wise decision to keep quiet on that matter.

He spoke up quickly. "But I digress. We were talking about why Blake was gone all day."

"Yeah, what gives Blake? I was hopin' I could go shopping with you for Rubes!"

"Ren was dared last night by his team to spend a weekend with us."

"I remember that part, yeah. Then what?"

"Well, he made the wise decision to come at _six in the morning_ to start his day."

"Ooo. Did he get the kitty's claws early in the morning?" She clawed in the air, prompting a face-palm from Ren and Blake to roll her eyes.

"One, don't call me kitty. And two, no. The day started normally. We read in the library for a bit."

"Okay… and then what? I know you weren't there at noon, because I checked when I woke up."

She narrowed her eyes. "You were looking for me?"

"Yeah, I thought we were going shopping! But I guess you were too busy with Ren…" She feigned looking hurt, trying to pull Ruby's signature puppy-eyes look. Blake just rolled her eyes.

Ren chucked lightly to himself. _I guess she is like the mom to someone other than Ruby,_ he thought.

"We decided to go fishing at Lake Forrester after Ren couldn't take staying indoors," ignoring her partner's poor attempts to look hurt.

Ren rose his hands up defensively. "It was not a forced decision. You took to the concept rather quickly."

"And I think I know exactly why," Yang smirked.

"Yang, _don't_."

"Yang, _do_. I'll tell you later, Ren." She winked, much to Blake's ire.

He looked at Blake, whose face was a combination of a blush in anger and embarrassment. Attempting to find a diplomatic escape from the situation, he spoke. "You really don't have to. I…" He cleared his throat. "... I insist. Please?"

Yang just shook her head, turning to look at him, and crossed her arms. "You're not getting away that easily, Ren."

"Of course I'm not," he muttered to himself.

"At least do it when I'm not in the room, Yang."

"Fine. So, you were going to go fishing. What then?"

"As we got on the airship to the agricultural district, we ran into a…" Ren trailed off.

"Very _nice_ old woman," Blake finished for him. Yang noticed how Ren and Blake looked at each other with a sigh.

Yang smiled. "Nice old woman huh?" Another chuckle. "She called you two a couple, didn't she."

Blake spoke first. "No, sh-"

She was interrupted by Ren blurting out. "Yes. Yes, she absolutely did." Blake opened her mouth, but only got out a 'wha-' sound before Ren continued. "In fact, everywhere we went, people saw us as a couple. It was ridiculous."

Blake threw her arms up. "... Okay then. Thanks for keeping it a secret, Ren."

"I had to say something. I counted thirty-two hostile glances at us while we were walking through the festival today from other couples. And that's not including all the glares we got in that large crowd."

Yang put her hands up in a stopping motion. "Wait, wait wait. Hold up. Festival?"

"We'll get there, Yang," Blake said.

"The very _nice_ old woman spoke to us about a festival being held at the lake. The Forrester Fish Fry and Festival to be exact."

She put an index finger in the air. "Oh! The F-four thing!" She shook the finger a few times. "Yeah, I saw some pretty cool stuff go down there on RemTube today."

Blake's eye twitched, and Ren broke eye contact for a moment, but Yang didn't seem to notice as she kept talking.

"So, you guys went to the festival instead of fishing then?"

"Correct," Ren said, the demeanor of calm and cool back on his face.

"We stayed there for the rest of the day. It was… fun, I guess." Blake's eyes shot towards the cooler for a second.

 _And it paid off quite handsomely..._

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Again, just this morning you were criticizing my usage of that exact word."

She shrugged, eyes still on the cooler, as Yang spoke up. "So you spent the whole day with Blake at the festival?"

"Well, starting from around eleven, yes."

"Then what did you two do together? She seems… not Blake."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Blake said, avoiding eye contact.

 _Well, let me think. We had an epic water gun battle, we beat up two students from Haven, won a five-hundred-pound fish, ran into the headmaster of Shade, and I got to find out how Jaune feels after an air-bus ride, in no specific order,_ Ren thought.

"We had some fish," he said out loud, voice not belying his thoughts.

She gasped. "That makes sooo much sense! Of course!"

Blake put an open hand over her eyes. "Yang, please…"

The fiery blonde continued. "Yeah, I'll tell you later, Ren. When grumpy cat isn't arou-"

Blake threw another pillow at Yang. "Don't call me grumpy cat."

"Well, it's not like I can call you a happy cat right now, can I?" She smirked, causing Blake to just shake her head while walking over to the giant cooler, closing the lid.

Eager to change the subject from repeated cat-related puns, she directed a question to Ren. "Where do you think we should keep this?"

He narrowed his eyes in thought. "It won't stay fresh for much longer in that cooler. We could ask the people at the cafeteria if we can borrow their fridge. Should be large enough."

"That grumpy old woman? She's never gonna let you guys do it," Yang interjected.

"Yeah, because you broke said fridge last time you tried to have a party," Blake pointed out.

"So? Doesn't stop her from being grumpy…"

Ren just kept on the original conversation. "It's settled then. Blake and I will take the fish to the _kind_ -"

" _Grumpy_ ," Yang disputed, crossing her arms and looking up.

"Cafeteria lady and see if we can store it there."

"Sounds like a plan. We would need two people anyway; that fish is pretty heavy," Blake nodding her head in agreement.

"You guys sure you don't want any help lifting that thing?" They nodded at the same time, making Yang fake-flinch in pain. "Ouch. I just got shut down."

"Yes, yes you did. Ren," she took a hold of one side, "grab the other side. Lift on three."

Moving the plushies on the ground to the side so that there was no risk of tripping on an obstacle, he followed suit and bent at the knees to help get the starting leverage they needed.

"Alright. One, two, three!" They both grunted, the weight of the fish getting to them as Yang watched.

"Good form! I give it a… seven outta ten." She wobbled a thumbs up sideways.

Blake just shook her head and nudged the case forwards in Ren's direction. "Alright, start backing up."

"If I trip and fall..." he said, not moving.

"You won't trip."

"Alright…" He put one foot behind the other, slowly backing up and inching closer to the open doorway while taking the occasional glance backward.

"Stop!" Blake shouted, nearly making Ren drop the cooler. They were almost at the door, and Ren had almost ran straight into the door frame.

"Thanks." He adjusted, and continued to slowly pace his way out of the dorm room.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't!" Yang yelled after them, before jogging behind Blake and whispering in her ear. "Is he going to be staying the night too?" She was fairly certain he didn't hear her; after all, he was still looking backwards, and he was looking strained as it was already.

Blake nodded in answer to her question. "Yep."

"Huh. Alright, I'll get out the spare sheets." Ren stopped, and he looked towards Blake. His part of the cooler was now in the hallway, she nodded her head to the right, and he started rotating the cooler. "See you in a few minutes!"

"Yeah, see you." She gently pushed forward, and Ren was still backing up, allowing for enough space to squeeze through.

"You're lucky you're so skinny, Blakey. Just like a ca-"

"Just close the door, Yang." She did as she was told, and gently closed the door behind them, leaving them to their own silence.

They had made their way a few steps until Ren said something. "Blake?"

"Yes?"

Ren's face was reddening a bit. "I still haven't completely recovered all of my aura from that previous scuffle, muscles are acting up. You mind if I just set this down for a moment? I should only be a moment."

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Ren set his side of the cooler down, and Blake did the same. "This fish really is pretty heavy."

"Quite." After another few seconds of silence, he spoke again. "Blake?"

"Mhm?"

"Why did you want to win this fish so badly?"

 _Because I want to ravage it with my teeth, eat it whole, and satisfy my insatiable appetite for feeeeesh,_ she thought maniacally in her mind.

But on the outside, she just shrugged. "Looked like it would make for a good feast for our teams," she lied. _Of course I'm not going to share with you buffoons… the fish is mine! MY FEESH!_

Ren ignored the fact that it took Blake a good thirty seconds to reply, but narrowed his eyes slightly. "That's quite considerate of yo-... Blake? Are you alright? Your eye is twitching."

She shook her head, temporarily wiping her mind of fish-induced mentality. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just reflexes."

Ren didn't seem to think much on the matter, as he dropped the topic with his next words. Taking a deep breath in, he let it out, and repeated the process multiple times. They were quiet, not heaving but long enough to draw plenty of air. Blake couldn't help but look on, as with each breath, it seemed as if Ren was looking less red in the face already, stature slightly less hunched.

"How are you doing that? A part of your semblance?"

"No, just special conditioning." Taking deep breaths between every few words, he continued his explanation. "While it's not nearly as powerful as a regenerative semblance, there are techniques that one can perform to align oneself to their soul, boosting the effective rate of aural regeneration."

"Incredible... You've gotta teach us that sometime."

He closed his eyes and gave a small smile. "I'm afraid that would be rather difficult... I've trained from childhood to perfect this."

"Mm. I see."

He took another deep, deep breath inwards, the slightly purple light around his hands forming a thin line, and by Blake's estimation, the tint of the aura showed that he was now above 50% again.

"Alright. I think I'm good." He tested his aura, and a slight tinge of magenta could be seen washing over his arms, face the same color it usually is.

"That fast?"

"That fast." Setting his hands on the cooler, he looked at Blake. "Ready?"

"When you are," she nodded. They got into the same crouching stance, and she counted to three, lifting and walking their way to the cafeteria.

* * *

Cardin was viewed as a despicable character. He bullied people left and right, abused his size and strength, and didn't do a single good thing for anybody in his life, other than hold the door for an old woman once.

 _Then again, I shut in right back in her saggy old face._ He chuckled, the noise echoing off the one of many empty hallways at Beacon. _Oh, that was good. She was sitting there on her ass, yelling at me so hard that her fake teeth popped out..._ He shook his head and laughed it off even more. Cardin was currently solo-ing the hallways of Beacon, the rest of CRDL going to some stupid fish festival that Cardin had wanted no part of.

 _Oum, who'd want to go to a festival full of fish? Those blubbering, slimy things... 'Sides. I don't need them._

His mission tonight was fairly simple. A hit or a miss; look for people to make fun of or bully. He'd already run into a random freshman kid, and he had fun watching his reaction when he rose a fist and snarled. _Damn, he ran fast._ Another chuckle. But his noise was joined in by another one, something that he knew wasn't his echo. Narrowing his eyes, he focused in on his hearing.

* * *

"You ever get tired of Yang?"

"All the time."

"I would make a metaphor for you two being fire and ice, but the value and meaning of that diminished by the presence of Weiss being on your team." He readjusted his grip, slightly lifting his side while still backing up slowly, eyes flickering between glancing behind him and Blake.

"Hm. It'd still work for those two, I guess."

"To a lesser extent."

"How about you and Nora? I know you said it took a year to tolerate her, but you said you got used to her quirks."

"I realized that the phrase, "opposites attract," works much better in theory than in practice. But it's true to a degree; we did balance each other out when it came to it. I prevented her from blowing up our room at combat school a few times, and she stopped me from being as antisocial as I could've been."

"You're still a quiet kid," snarled an all too familiar voice. Ren and Blake both stopped, simultaneously turning their heads to the side. They were just about to walk across a t-section when Cardin Winchester walked up to them, arms low and open as if welcoming a friend. "You too, bow-lady."

Blake twitched her ears, bow barely obscuring it. "What do you want, _Cardin_."

"Nothin, really. Just looking for something fun to do tonight. And I think you two are perfect."

 _Is he drunk?_ Ren thought to himself. While Cardin was a powerful fighter, if he was thinking about picking a fight against the both of them, he would surely lose. _Or is he working at another plot..._

"And what would you mean by that?" Blake seethed, eyes seemingly glowing brighter as she narrowed her eyes. Ever since he had seen him bully Velvet due to her Faunus heritage, she's had nothing but hard feelings and harsh words for the teen.

"Oh, relax. I know I can't mess with you two. Besides, I'm above that." She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm just interested in what's in that case there..."

As if by instinct, Blake pulled the cooler to her, nearly yanking Ren off-balance. "Nothing that you need to see," she said. Ren looked at Blake to see that her eye was twitching yet again, giving her a very dangerous...

 _Or deranged appearance,_ Ren thought to himself.

"Cardin, we have no interest in any games you wish to play today," he said with a steeled voice, rehearsed by years of telling Nora that she cannot drink syrup from the bottle.

"But it's not a game, ninja! I just wanna take a peek into that box there..."

* * *

Blake was reaching her breaking point. She could feel her whole body trembling in anger as this... _heathen_ tried to get close to her prize.

Her love.

Her... her's... it's all...

 _Mine... It's mine... nobody will take it from me! my feesh..._

She didn't even hear the words coming out of Cardin's smug smile. Each step he took closer to the cooler sounded alarms in her head, turning any sound into white noise as she tried to hold onto the remaining flecks of self-control that she had. There was a battle in her mind, the primal versus the logical, and the former was winning over with each unholy step that Cardin took towards the blue, white lidded cooler.

"-can't hurt, right? Just wanna peek."

Ren looked at Blake, and widened his eyes. She was turning into that primal Blake that he had seen this morning, eyes afire with something he didn't recognize, and a snarl on her mouth that Cardin was apparently blind to.

"Cardin, you really do not want to do that," he warned. But it was clear that he wasn't listening, and reached his hand out to one of the locks on the cooler.

"And why's that?"

He didn't even get to unclasp it when she dropped the cooler and pounced on him like a feral cat.

* * *

"PLEASE DEAR OUM, MERCY! MERCY! MER- AUGHHH!" Another fist made contact with his face.

Ren was horrified by the sight in front of him. Dropping his cooler with a thump, his eyes were as wide as they could go, and he was leaning back, focused on the battle(massacre) that was ensuing in front of him. When Blake had pounced, he swore it had looked like a puma in mid-leap, fangs bared and claws at the ready. She tackled Cardin away from the cooler and started to straddle him on the chest when she finished him.

"DON'T!"

A right-handed slap.

"TOUCH!"

Left-handed.

"MY!"

Anotha' one from the right.

"FISH!" She slapped him again, and followed it with a backhand, knocking him out, cheeks reddening from all of the punishment he had endured, legs that were formerly flailing going limp. Standing back up with ease, she gave him a light kick in the side, eliciting another grunt, but no conscious reaction. Satisfied with her work, she closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened them again. Back were the burning embers, but at least, this time, they didn't hold a promise to slap someone silly. Taking a deep breath and holding it, Ren spoke up.

"What the hell was that?"

"You swear?"

"When I deem it necessary. And I think this is necessary. You just-"

"Long day, I got stressed," was her explanation for why she had just beat someone up. "Besides, he's not doing anybody favors by walking around these halls, anyway."

"He didn't even get a chance to shield himself when you... attacked." He referenced Cardin's lolling head, rolling back and forth on the head as his cheeks took on a mix of purple and red from the forceful slaps.

"He deserved it." With that, she walked back over to her side of the cooler, and took hold. "Let's go."

* * *

"Oh, hey! Back already?" She had changed into her pajamas since they had last seen her.

"Yep." She brushed past her.

"Woah, okay then. Still grumpy." She noticed that Ren was still standing there, eyes looking anywhere other than the dorm room or Yang. "You... wanna' come in?"

"Yes, please." Yang stepped aside, but Ren stopped when he was right under the doorway, turning to look at Yang. "She's fine, we just ran into Cardin on our way to the cafeteria."

"Ugh. I hate that guy. Did you guys get rid of him?"

"Yes. In fact, you... might not be seeing him for the rest of the weekend." With that, Ren kept walking in, found his suitcase, and began to unpack.

"Huh. Won't be seeing him the whole weekend..." It didn't take long for Yang to connect the dots, closing the door and turning to face Blake.

"Blake!" she turned her bow-clad head to look at Yang, "I'm so proud of you! You beat up your first guy at Beacon!"

Blake, who had been lying on her bed, leaned on her elbows to look at Ren. "You told her?"

"I implied it," he shrugged.

"It's fine Blake. Odds are he had it coming, right?"

"Yeah," she said without even glancing over as she opened a book and started to read.

"Sweet. Uh, question though." Ren looked up, and Blake just 'mmm'-ed. "Where'd you guys get the fish in the first place? Cuz' I don't think I ordered anything like that recently."

"We won it in a contest," Blake replied, eyes still cast downwards at her book.

"Contest? What kinda contest?"

"A contest."

"That's not answering my question, Blake!"

"I know." Her smirk was half-hidden behind her book as Ren attempted to clarify with a white lie.

"It wasn't anything too special. Just a few activities with a grand prize."

"Oh. Cool. And what about the plushies? Don't tell me you got one for Ruby and one for me!"

"No, I'm afraid the second one is for Nora."

"But the first one _is_ for Ruby," Blake said.

"Yeah, don't worry. I was just joking," waving her hand around before walking towards her bunk, and climbing atop of it. "Man, she's gonna be happy about that when she comes back tomorrow."

"I've been meaning to ask about that," Ren said. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Partner bonding mission," Blake answered.

"Yeah, Ruby dragged Weiss into it. It was a battle for the ages..." She chuckled at the memory.

"So, they're... not going to be here tomorrow."

"Nope!" Yang said, popping the 'p.'

Ren sat down on the floor. "Seems as if a problem has presented itself. Numerous."

Blake looked over her book to see Ren's back as she asked. "What do you mean?"

"My dare entails that I spend a weekend with all of you individually. Though on the bright side, it would've been rather difficult achieving that task when I just spent a whole day with you."

"Oh. That is a problem."

"Quite."

"So what's gonna happen when you can't complete the dare?" Yang asked, lying stomach-down on her bunk.

"I don't know. And I can't ask Nora for a revision of the rules. I'm not allowed to contact her or my team."

"We could ask for you," the blonde offered.

"We?" Blake asked from under her.

"Yeah, we. Shows to prove that we only have two members of RWBY here this weekend, right?"

"Mmph. Fine." She got up from her bed and stretched, Yang dropping down from her bunk right next to her.

"We'll be right back." The blonde walked off, Blake reluctantly trailing behind her, closing the door as they left and knocked.

The door opened to reveal a beaten-up Jaune, combat armor still on. "Yang? Blake? What're you guys doin' here?"

"Looking for Nora," Yang answered. "And what on Remnant happened to you?"

"Training with Pyrrha. Decided we'd practice live combat, and now I don't think I can feel my spine."

"Sorry!" A voice came from further in the dorm, distinctly Pyrrha's.

"But sorry, Nora, right?" They both nodded. "She's not here, left this morning. She said she was gonna do some shopping, but she hasn't come back yet. Even left her scroll behind."

"Well, that's too bad. Guess we can't do anything." Blake started to walk back until Yang grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "Hey!"

"You know how Ren was dared to spend a weekend with us, right?"

"Yeah, how's he doing?"

"He's doing fine. But the dare says that he has to spend some time with each of us on Team RWBY this weekend, and two of our key members are gone."

"Oh, that's a problem."

"Yeah, no dip. So what's he gonna do?"

He shrugged. "Honestly, I dunno'. Nora was the mastermind of the whole thing. I'll let you guys know when she gets back from wherever she is though, that sound good?"

"Thanks! Have a good night!"

"Yep, you too." He closed the door, leaving Blake and Yang in the empty hallway. Looking at each other and shrugging, they walked back into the room, Ren awaiting his solution to the problems presented.

"So, what's the answer?"

"Apparently, Nora went shopping."

Ren stood up straight, back rigid. "Oh, that's not good."

Blake tilted her head slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Nora has problems controlling herself when shopping sometimes... especially when she's alone."

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE OUTTA SYRUP? THIS IS PLACE IS CALLED THE SYRUP FACTORY, RIGHT?"

"I-I-I'm ss-sorry ma'am, but you drank it all!"

"THAT'S A LIE AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"It's no-no-not a lie! Please don't hurt me..."

"WHERE'S THE SYRUP! MORE! SYRUP!" She stood up from the table, climbed atop of it, and roared. "THE QUEEN DEMANDS MORE!"

* * *

"I would recommend avoiding the news for this weekend."

"Mmm. Good idea."

"In the meanwhile, I suppose I'll complete half of my dare with my remaining time with you two this weekend. That must amount to something in Nora's book."

"So... you're gonna do stuff with me tomorrow?"

"As long as it doesn't involve explosions or anything that would present itself to be a serious threat to my health, yes. I will be doing 'stuff' with you tomorrow."

"Sweet! New playmate..." She winked at him, making both Ren and Blake shake their heads.

"Too blunt," they said at the same time.

"Ouch. Shut down again." She climbed back onto her bed, and Blake excused herself to go change in the bathroom.

Ren, who was still unpacking onto the floor, spoke up. "Yang?"

"Yo."

"Do you have any spare sheets, by chance? I don't think I brought any."

She remembered the sheets. "Oh, right. I left em in the bathroom. I'll be right back." Jumping back down, she knocked on the bathroom door. "Blake? I think I left the spare sheets in the bathroom. Can you hand them to me?"

Blake opened the door, fully clothed in her sleep-wear, and handed her the sheets in one hand, normal clothing in the other. "Here."

Yang took them and tossed them to Ren, Blake putting away her clothing. "Here. I'm guessing you're going to be sleeping on the floor?"

"Thank you. And yes, I'll be sleeping on the floor."

"You sure? It still gets a bit cold sometimes during the night. You could sleep in Weiss' bed and she wouldn't ever know."

"I'll pass, thank you though. I don't want to run the risk of her finding a stray strand of hair."

Yang chuckled. "So you do have a sense of humor after all!"

"Don't we all?" He rose an eyebrow, and laid the sheets on the carpeted section of the room.

"I guess. So, you're sure you wanna sleep on the floor?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I appreciate the concern, but I will be fine."

"If you say so." Taking a pillow from her bed, she tossed it towards Ren. "Here."

"I really don't need it. Thank you, though." He was about to toss it back until Blake spoke.

"Just keep it. She doesn't even use a pillow half the time," monotonous tone being expressed in her voice as per usual.

Ren looked towards Yang for an explanation, and she just gave a drawn out flip of her hair, time almost appearing to slow down. "This works as a pretty good pillow, too," she said.

"Ah. Of... course." He put pillow at the end of the make-shift bed, and nodded. "I'm all set. Thank you for the sheets and pillow." Yang gave him a thumbs up.

"No problem. Now, aren't you gonna change? Unless you sleep in that."

"Oh, right. There's another problem with that..."

"If you're worried about us being concerned with you using our bathroom, don't be," Blake said. "Just don't mess anything up in there and you're good."

"Thank you." Grabbing a small pile of neatly folded clothing, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

"Hey Blake," Yang whispered down from her bunk, head upside down as she looked at Blake.

She sighed. "Yes, Yang?"

"What kind of shampoo do you think Ren uses?"

"How would I know? Probably the same one as you, judging by how his hair looks."

"I know, right? But his is different. I can't put my finger on it, and it's bothering me!"

"Okay. So ask him."

"Oh, Blake, Blake, Blake... rule one of espionage is to not ask direct questions!"

"Espionage?" She repeated.

"Yeah! I can't just ask him directly! I've gotta find out what it is on my own..."

"And why are you going through this much trouble again?"

"Because. I'm... curious."

She just raised an eyebrow. "You just think his hair looks better than yours, don't you."

She gasped. "You think so too? Oh no..." Her hands shot up to her hair, luscious locks apparently not enough for the blonde.

Blake just rolled her eyes. "No, I don't. What I _do_ think is that you're being paranoid."

"No, I'm not being paranoid! His hair is like, perfecter than perfect! How does he do it?"

"Just ask him."

"But I can't! It's gotta be secret, otherwise he'll change his shampoo and throw me off of his trail! I'll never find the true culprit!"

"Oh, of course. I forgot about that," Blake deadpanned.

She threw her hands into the air, visible from where Blake lied. "This isn't funny!"

"I'm not laughing, am I?"

"Urgh! Come on Bl-WOAH!" Before she could finish her sentence, she had fallen off of the bed in a heap, head first. Sitting up, she was rubbing her head when Blake finally spoke, mirth in her voice.

"I was wondering how you were still lying on your bed with your hands in the air."

"OW..."

Ren opened the door, and looked around. "What's wrong? What happen- Yang?"

"It's fine, Ren. She just fell."

"Yeah. It's fine! We're fine. It's all fine." She stood up quickly, and climbed atop her bed again, delving under the blankets.

"Did I... do something?" Ren asked, questioning Yang's sudden interest in her bed.

"No, it's nothing. She's jus-" Yang tossed a pillow in her face. "Hey!"

"SHHH!" Yang hissed from under her sheets. "DON'T TELL HIM!"

"Don't tell me what?"

"Yang wants to know what shampoo you us-" Another pillow nearly went in her face, but she blocked it with a slap. "Where are you getting these pillows from!?"

"My... shampoo?" _What are they on about?_

"YOU'RE BLOWING THIS WHOLE OPERATION, BLAKE!"

Blake rolled her eyes, and motioned for Ren to continue with her book; a slight nudge in his direction was his cue. "I use..." He cleared his throat. "Samurai Shampoo?"

Yang's head popped out of the blankets. "Seriously?"

Ren, still surprised by the strangeness of the whole situation, tentatively answered. "Yes?"

"Oh, that's what you use! Okay, because I was wondering what made your hair look so... good and stuff. Thanks!" She turned over so that her back was to the middle of the room, and went onto Rem-mart's online website, searching for the product.

"No problem?"

Blake filled the void of silence that ensued. "Just don't ask. Trust me."

 _Aaaand order placed,_ Yang thought to herself as she pressed the button. Turning back around, she beamed a smile. "Alright! G'night." _It'll be here in two days... perfect hair will be mine!_

Ren just blinked a few times before he answered. "Good night." As Yang flipped over again, Ren and Blake shared another look, Blake just shrugging as she picked up her book and started to read again. "I'll be going to bed as well, then. Should I keep the lights on for you?"

"You can turn them off. Rest well. You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

"I'm looking forward to it," he said as he walked towards the light switch, sarcastic tone reminiscing of her own.

 _flick_

* * *

You read this far? Well, 'ere's a little Ruby and Weiss for you.

* * *

Friday evening. Classes are out, and students have retired to their dorm rooms, either preparing themselves for the fun-filled weekend, or doing their homework ahead of time.

But let's be serious. Who does that other than Weiss? However, this time she isn't being a goody-two-shoes. She's being the exact. Opposite.

"What do you mean, I'm too cold around you? And too snappy!? And yell too much!?" She was currently holding a card that apparently listed a few of Weiss' shortcomings, and she wasn't having it.

"You're yelling at me right now, Weiss..." She ducked her head.

"I refuse to let you drag me into this... ridiculous, ineffectual 'bonding' weekend! We've bonded as partners enough."

"But Weiss~..." She narrowed her eyes as she looked downwards.

"No, Ruby. I am not doing it." She turned around, and crossed her arms with a 'hmph.'

Ruby tugged on her sleeve. She tugged a few more times. After what must've been the tenth tug, Weiss spun around.

"What do you wa-"

She was face-to-face with another one of Ruby's puppy-eye looks, silver eyes widened and bottom lip out in what must've been the most adorable pout ever, hands behind her back.

"Pwweeeeeease?" She was almost squeaking at the last bit of her pleading tone. Weiss twitched an eye.

"No."

"Pllleeeeaseee?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeaaas-"

"Ruby Rose, for the last time, my final answer is-" She was interrupted by Ruby flashing a screen full of kittens. in front of her face. "That's not going to work, Ruby. You know I like dogs more."

"Aww..." She slumped away, dragging her feet behind her as she walked. She turned around to see Weiss still facing the opposite direction, and she snuck into the bathroom. Dialing a number on her scroll, she put it up to her ear. _Drastic times, drastic measures,_ she thought.

"Ruby? What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Nothing Dad, can you just get Zwei please?"

"Uh... why?"

"Just do it. And put the call on video."

"Okay... I'll be right back." A minute passed, and he turned on the video camera. Zwei, in all of his fluffy, adorable goodness, was right in front of the camera, tongue out and tail wagging at the sight of Ruby.

"Bark!"

She giggled. "Hi Zwei! Now listen, I need you to help me convince my friend to do something, and only your cuteness can help! Are you ready?"

"Bark!" He kept panting.

"Great! Alright Dad, can you keep him there?"

"Yes. Make it quick though, I think he's going to try and jump at the scroll soon."

She walked out of the bathroom, and she muted the scroll as she put it behind her back. Weiss was now turning around as she heard the door open, but immediately went to facing the other way as she saw Ruby walking towards her.

"Hey Weiss..."

She didn't say anything in response, still opting for the silent treatment.

"Weiss, look at this... Is it cute, or what?"

She distinctly heard the sounds of a dog panting behind her back, nearly making her turn around by instinct, but she maintained her composure.

"It looks so fluffy and cute and adorable..." Ruby was using her baby-ing voice, making it sound like she was playing with a puppy.

 _I think she_ is _playing with a puppy by the sounds of it,_ she thought to herself.

"Come on, Weiss? Tell me, is this puppy cute or not? Dawwww~..."

Weiss could feel her castle walls breaking down. _Don't look, don't look, do not look. You are a Schnee. You are stronger than this. You can withstand the storms of... cuteness that you will endure. You will win! You will say no to her face!_ Turning around to face the troublesome team leader, she spoke. "I told you, my answer is-..."

Ruby spoke a flurry of words all at once in the blink of an eye. "Willyougoonthemissionwithme," she said, but Weiss didn't hear it or comprehend it as her eyes were now glued to the scroll, the adorably cuddly dog on the screen still panting with its tail wagging.

"... Yes that DOG IS SO CUTE! Oh, what's its name! Is it yours? Oh, I just wanna pet its ears, and touch the fur and-"

"YOU SAID YES, YAY! Okay, thanks Dad!"

"No proble-" The beep of a scroll hanging up could be heard, and Weiss was snapped out of her trance.

"Hey! I was looking at something there!"

"Well, now you're gonna be looking at Grimm for the rest of the weekend with yours truly!"

"Wait, I'm what?"

"You said yes!"

"I did no such thing! When did I say yes to your stupid mission?"

"About fifteen seconds ago."

"That doesn't count!"

"Oh, yes it does."

"Does not."

"Does too."

"DOES NOT, RUBY."

"DOES TOO!"

Right outside, Blake and Yang had their ears on the door.

"Think we should go in?" Yang asked.

"I value my ears and my life. Your call."

"Point taken. Let's go."

Back inside, they were still arguing.

"Come ON Weiss! We both need this!"

"YOU need this! I don't."

"But it's a partner activity! If one of us needs it, doesn't the other too?"

"The same theory could be applied the other way around! If I don't need it, neither do you!"

Ruby was growling. "Weiss, don't make me do this."

Slightly taken aback by the shift from sad and adorable to fierce and still adorable, she leaned back a bit. "Ruby?"

"Either you come willingly... OR I TAKE YOU WITH ME!"

"Oh, oh no you don't."

Ruby smiled innocently. "Don't what?"

"DON'T YOU DA-" Ruby bear-tackled Weiss, knocking her to the floor as Ruby stood up and activated her semblance, blowing them out of the doorway, making Blake and Yang look back at the rapidly fading red and white mix barrel down the hallway. They heard them shout at each other even after they had turned the corner.

"RUBY ROSE, LET ME GO!"

"NEVARRRR!"

* * *

 **so that was a thing.**

 **a bit of RW, and a bit of BY(R).**

 **thanks for the support thus-far. time to keep the train rolling with Yang now!**


	10. The Morning: Yang P 1

**A chapter that I blocked on six times while I was writing this. Fun fact: I added little tidbits of Blake because I just couldn't. Figure out. What to fahking write.**

 **But here it is, in all of its blocky glory.**

 **And hey. At least I can make another underlying plot. :D**

* * *

 **Yang's Arc P. 1: Gooooood morning!**

"Rise and shine." Blake pulled away the curtains, and the blinding sunlight blasted through the windows, immediately eliciting a groan from the two other people in the room. Shaking her head at their laziness, she walked over to Ren and stood over him. "Don't tell me you're not a morning person either."

He answered by putting an arm over his eyes.

"It's almost nine you two." No response. "Are you just going to lie in all day?" A mumbled yes came from both of their mouths. Sighing, she gave up her battle and sat back down on her bed, curled up in her blankets and kept reading her mega-novel. "Hope you don't mind if I join you two then."

More mumbling, but Yang was actually able to form a coherent and audible sentence above her. "What time is it?"

"Nine."

Immediately, she jumped out of bed, and nearly planted his feet right into Ren's arm, startling both of the bookworms as they backed up from Yang's descent. "Nine!?" She said with panic in her voice.

"Yeah. What's wron-"

"Can't talk, gotta change!"

"Wait, Yang!" She didn't answer as she said she wouldn't, flipped through her drawer to pull out her usual attire, and ran into the bathroom to change. _She didn't even bother combing through her hair… what's up with her?_ Blake thought.

"Ugh… what time is it?" Ren slowly stirred.

"Why does everyone ask that?" She muttered under her breath. "It's nine, Ren. And Yang just took off in a hurry to change. Do you know why?"

"No idea." He yawned as he propped himself up on his elbows. "That was actually a fairly restful sleep. Is it usually like this?"

Blake's mind shot to all of the times she had been forced to stay awake due to Weiss' incessant urges for everyone to study or train more, Ruby's ceaseless appetite for late-night gaming, or Yang's insatiable hunger for ill-fated parties. "Sometimes," she answered.

"I suppose I got lucky, then." Blinking hard, he slowly started to get up when Yang burst out of the bathroom door, hair looking more Yang-y and every-day clothing put on down to the yellow scarf within thirty seconds, flat.

"Ren, get changed. We've gotta get going!"

"For what?"

"For your day with me!"

"Already?" He shook his head. "Blake said it was only nine…"

"I thought you were an early bird, like Blake! No wait, she's an early cat."

"Just… stop, Yang."

Smirking, she just continued. "We've got an airbus to catch!"

"Airbus?"

"Less questions, more changing!" She grabbed Ren's clothing and threw it into his face, making him fall backwards onto the carpeted floor. "You have exactly one minute, cause' it's leaving in ten!"

"Yang, where are you two even going?"

She smiled. "It's a surprise. You're gonna love it, Ren."

Getting up, he shook his head. "I'm sure I will." Walking slowly to the bathroom, he opened the door only to get shoved in by Yang. "WOAH!"

She shut the door behind him, and plopped down on Weiss' bed. Blake just looked at her, but dropped the case after a minute, deciding that she won't be able to get down to the middle of this mystery location. _Besides, I've got a lot of catchup reading to do with you, Mr. Book…_

"Hey Blake?"

"Yes?"

"You wanna come with us today?"

Blake actually considered it for a moment. She found Ren to be a tolerable person, and any day with Yang would always prove itself to be interesting. But several incentives weren't there for her. _No fish, no fish fries, and no fish filets,_ she thought to herself. _And if I let them go, I can have the dorm to myself for the afternoon… peace and quiet would be mine in the comfort of my own bed._

She made the executive decision to read her art alone. "Sorry, no."

"Are you just gonna' stay indoors and read then?"

"Probably."

"Where's the fun in that?"

She shrugged, eyes still glued to the pages. "It's fun to me." _Maybe I can pay my fish a visit too..._

"Course it is. But don't you ever get tired of staying indoors all day?"

 _Yeah, that'd be a good idea. See how my fish is doing._ "I got enough of the outdoors yesterday. It was pretty nice, I guess." She flipped a page, eyes nor tone belying an interest in the conversation.

Yang rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant, Blake."

"I know," she smirked.

"Oum Blakey, can you stop being sarcastic for one day?"

"I consider it dry wit."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You can keep reading your smut book,"

"Wha-!"

"- I'm gonna go check on Ren. I was done in like, less than a minute and I'm a woman! Aren't guys supposed to be faster than us or something?" Standing up, she knocked on the door. "What's takin' so long in there, Ren?"

"Nothing! I'll be out shortly." _Actually, there is a big problem. Rather large, at that._

"You have thirty seconds before I open this door."

"I'll be out soon." _Oumdammit this is really bad._ Lie Ren was being faced with a predicament. The bundle of clothing that Yang had thrown at him didn't include a key part of his outfit. _I would really rather not go commando all day. But do I ask her for it? I think I should. Just… make it quick._ "Uh, Yang?"

"Yo." She was still outside the doorway from the sounds of it.

"Could you grab me my undergarments?"

Silence for ten seconds. Ren worried for a second that he had crossed some forbidden line that he didn't know about. Little did he know that on the other side of the door, Blake had already covered up her faunus ears with her hands, and Yang was about to burst of laughter. He was about to ask again when she started to laugh hysterically, hands pounding on the door that made him flinch back for a moment as the thunderous laughter went unhindered by said door and reached his ears.

"Is that a yes?" _Of course it's a yes. She's loud, but she's not loud and rude._ She kept laughing, her breath audibly coming back to her in ragged pants. _Well, I hope not._

"Yeah, yeah, lemme go grab it for you. Oh, oh I can't believe you almost went commando the whole day! Especially for where we're going…"

 _Where we're going?..._ He didn't have much time to think when opened a small crack in the door, and the underwear was tossed onto the counter. "Thank you," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it… whew…" She turned towards Blake. "Wasn't that funny?"

"Very." She turned another page.

"Oh, Blakey… you're hopeless."

She said nothing as she kept reading, Ren emerging from the restroom fully dressed, inner and outer layers comfortably completed.

"Should I prepare anything in terms of meals for us?"

"Jeez Ren, it's like you're a butler or something. Nah, we'll be fine where we're going. We might need some lien though. You got some on you?"

"Not much. I have about fourteen or fifteen left on me."

"Ooo. That's probably not going to be enough."

"This begs the question, Yang. Where _are_ we going?"

"Secret! Can't tell ya'."

"Here." Blake had the one-hundred denomination lien card in her hand, Ren raising an eyebrow as Yang happily plucked it from her fingers.

"Thanks Blakey! I'll be sure to get you some nice treats with this!" She winked, but Blake seemed unfazed as her hand returned to the side of her book.

"Ignoring the fact that you're making multiple racist jabs at my heritage, please don't."

"Lighten up. We'll be back in a few hours!" She gave two thumbs up coupled with a signature Yang-style grin, and walked towards the door.

"If you don't hear from us before nine, call the police," Ren deadpanned.

"Gotcha. Have fun." She looked up for a split second, and he wasn't sure if she was either joking, bored, or pitying Ren's unknown plight. He followed Yang out of the room, and Blake was left alone in the dorm room.

Finally.

 _Peace, quiet, and smut. Oum, I've been waiting to do this for so long…_ She reached out from where she was to where the bed met the wall, and moved her hand around. Eyes narrowed as her hand scoped the area, and they lit up once they found their target. She pulled out a dark, opaque bag, and smiled. "Hello again, old friend." Opening the bag, she pulled out a small fish-shaped chew toy, and bit down on it, half of the fish hanging out length-side from her mouth as she bit down gently, eliciting a small squeak from the toy. She gave a content smile, and redirected her attention to her book, everything in her world falling into place for a while.

* * *

i'm just gonna come in here and break the immersion for a second, but can you imagine Blake with a wittle-bitty toy in her mouth? i'm sorry for the blatant characterization of her acting like… well, a pet animal, but hey. cute wins over all. sue me. (pls don't.)

* * *

Closing the door behind them, Yang was already ready to go with a smile. "We're gonna have to up the pace if we wanna catch the airbus. Ready to hustle?"

 _Of course I have to 'hustle.' As if I didn't get enough of that when I had to fight off the combined forces of two hunters in training yesterday._ "Always," he replied dully.

"Good. Let's go!" She took off in a jog towards the right of the hallway, Ren attempting to simply speed walk to keep pace until he realized that he didn't have longer legs than those of Yang's. Shaking his head, he started to jog as well, closing the distance rather quickly. The hallways were a bit busier than yesterday, several students simply chatting with one another and enjoying the company while others looked geared and ready for the last day of the weekend before school, responsibility, and homework.

After a minute more of jogging through twists, winds, and empty hallways, they got to the main gate and flashed their scrolls. The guard, the same man from yesterday, gave Ren a curious look. "Leaving so soon, kid?"

He nodded. "I'm afraid so." The guard just snorted, and waved him on.

"Don't have too much fun," he said as the two walked out. After walking for another thirty seconds, they both started to jog again, Yang looking down at her scroll to gauge their time.

"Get to it Ren! We've got seven minutes and thirty seconds! We miss this airbus, we miss our opportunity for fifteen extra minutes of fun!"

He wasn't getting tired yet, but morning jogs still weren't his thing. "Did you not set an alarm so that we wouldn't be so pressed for time?"

"Alarms don't work with me. Just ask Blake later." Ren slotted that into his mental file cabinet, and kept jogging, going a bit faster to jog side by side with her.

"You could've asked Blake to wake us up earlier then," he replied.

"I like to cut things close. Makes it feel all the better when we make it there at the last second."

"I..." He let out a deep breath, slightly trembling with each step that he took. "... See."

"Besides, I thought you'd be awake way before me." She glanced down at her scroll. "Almost there! Just a bit longer."

"Are we staying in Vale?"

"Yep. Going by the sea this time around. We're going to go visit a very popular tourist attraction."

"Sounds interesting enough."

"Oh, it'll be interesting. Trust me."

"I trust you, for lack of a better reason."

A few breaths passed as they kept jogging. "Don't say it like that, makes it sound dangerous or something."

"With you, I can never be too cautious," he said without much tone in his voice.

"I'm hurt, Ren!"

"My apologies. I'll make it up to you later today," he deadpanned.

"Ooo, really?" She raised her eyebrows up and down a few times, and Ren just shook his head, turning to look forward.

"Too blunt, Yang."

* * *

After more jogging and endless verbal jabs from Yang, they had made it to the airbus launch pad, Yang not breaking a sweat and Ren only looking slightly tired out thanks to his aura giving him the stamina needed. Finding the flight quickly at one of many launch terminals provided, they quickly boarded their flight, yet another Atlesian Airliner. Taking a seat that was closer towards the front, Yang sat back with her hands behind her head and Ren folded his hands on his lap.

The same, feminine, robotic voice chimed over the intercom, thanking them for flying Atlesian. Soon enough, they felt the thrusters underneath them start to hiss, and within a few more moments they were in the air, soaring away from the iconic multi-tower view of Beacon Academy.

Ren looked around. The average crowd was on the bus, meaning that it wasn't packed but it wasn't an empty airbus either. Many of them were of similar age to him, several faces vaguely familiar to him as a fellow student of Beacon. Looking back over at Yang, her eyes were glued to the window, gazing over the city.

 _I guess it's time to ask the burning question..._ "Yang?" She snapped out of her trance, and looked at Ren.

"What's up?"

"You said last night that later you would tell me why your partner was acting so strangely."

She blinked a few times. "Wait, do you seriously not know? Like, you're not joking."

"I'm afraid not."

"Well, you know how faunus don't share anything with their animal other than physical traits, right?"

"Of course."

"That's... not one-hundred percent true."

Ren added two and two together. "Are you saying that Blake still has... some of the mentality of-"

"A cat? Yeah. From what I've seen, she loves fish, stretches like one, and she..." She chuckled. "Promise me you'll never tell anyone else this."

"Of course." Ren wasn't sure what was so important to keep a secret, but his mind urged him to find out.

After a few more chuckles, she spoke. "She likes to play with boxes."

He rose an eyebrow. "As in?"

"She just... jumps in!" She started laughing, garnering the attention from everyone within a three row radius of them, much to Ren's embarrassment. "Oh, you should've seen it. I didn't get to record it, so Ruby and Weiss won't believe me, but she just..." Her laughter continued, unhindered by the increasing amount of eyes being directed upon her.

"I believe you, Yang. But could you quiet down a bit? We're gathering unwanted attention."

"Oh, come on. Why can't I laugh a bit?"

"You can laugh once we reach our destination and depart the airbus, somewhere in the open where we're not surrounded by people." She looked around, and several pairs of eyes were still on her.

"Oh." The smile was slightly diminished on her lips as she sat back into her chair. "Whoops."

After a minute of silence, Ren looked over the headrest of the seat in front of him to see the flight status indicator. "We still have sixteen minutes until we reach our destination," he said.

"Great! That means we'll get there before they open. We can get ourselves a good spot in line!"

"Yang, where are we going?" He asked with an exasperated tone, the answer being denied the past few attempts he asked.

"It's a surprise... can't tell ya! But I'm thinking that you and Nora might've gone there before if she's the adrenaline druggie that I think she is."

"You're not really giving me much to work with here."

"That's on purpose." She smirked. "Now, I'm gonna grab some shuteye. Wake me up when I get there, cuz' I'm not interested in a round trip to Beacon and back." Closing her eyes, her breathing slowed and the muscles in her face relaxed.

"Can't tell me... Nora and I have been there..." He said to nobody in particular other than himself, gears in his mind whirring and churning as he tried to solve the puzzle. "Sea side..." _I'm clueless_ , he thought to himself. Sighing and leaning back into his chair, he closed his eyes as well, deciding to wait out the remaining fifteen minutes to reach his destination instead of trying to figure it out on his own.

* * *

Getting off of the airbus was easier than last time with Blake. _For one, we didn't have a crazy old woman trying to mush us together,_ he thought as feet touched solid ground once more, the robotic feminine voice wishing them to have a nice day fading away. Yang had awoken without Ren's assistance a minute before they had touched down, just in time to see the docks and various boats from the four nations. She looked even more energized than before, rushing down the staircase while Ren took his time with it, the energy reminiscent of his own partner.

"Alright Ren." She was at a map now, pointing with her index finger and tracing along some path while frowning in concentration. "We've gotta get to... here." Her finger stopped, and she tapped a few times on a large, purple dot.

"And where's here?" His eyes scanned on the map for a key, but to his surprise, he found none. "Don't see any indicator for what it is..."

"Did you and Nora seriously never go here?"

He shrugged.

"Woooow. Alright, then I guess it's up to me to get'cha up to speed then." She smirked. "Are you afraid of heights?"

"No."

"Good. Cuz' I'm gonna introduce you to Remnant's best amusement park!"

"We're going to an amusement park?"

"Yeah! It's been forever since I've gone, and since you looked like you were so bored yesterday, I thought I would pump some life into that flow of yours!"

"My... flow?"

"Yeah! Like your attitude and everything. It's pretty dull."

"... Thanks."

"Yeah!" She replied, obviously not listening to Ren as she walked off. "Alright, this way my companion!"

He just stood at the map for a second, looking on at the wild mane of blonde hair bouncing behind her. Sighing, he called out. "Yeah, wait up."

* * *

Blake was panicking at Beacon.

Her fish was missing.

"No, no, no! Where is it..." She was digging through the fridge, cafeteria lady behind her looking on in confusion.

"Sweet'art, what're you looking for in there?"

"Last night, I had put a very large giant catfish into this fridge to preserve it. Now it's gone! Did anyone come in here?"

"Not that I know of, hun. I've been in here startin' at six, and I made sure to lock the door after you and your friend came in here."

"It can't have just... vanished..." She put two fists in front of her mouth, propping her elbows up on the top of the lower freezer door. "It had to have been a person."

"Who would've taken a fish though?" The woman asked.

Blake thought as well, and it didn't take long for her to think of the culprit. Embers burned golden yet again, animalistic glare returning as she identified her prey in her mind. She turned around, and the cafeteria lady backed up a step, surprised by the sudden intensity in the quiet girl's demeanor. She hissed one word, and one word only.

"Cardin."

* * *

"So Nora's never gone to an amusement park?"

"Well, we did once. It was not a fully fledged park, but there were a few rides."

"Where was it?"

"It was when Nora and I were still children," he said. "A travelling circus had brought their contraptions with them, and they were making a tour around the outer towns."

"You lived outside the city?"

"Yes."

"Ouch. That sounds... rough."

 _You have no idea,_ he thought. But he didn't tell her those words out loud. As of right now, he only trusted Jaune and Pyrrha with that secret, and it would only dampen the conversation if he were to bring it up.

"Yes, it wasn't a comfortable life all the time. But I digress." Yang nodded as they walked, passersby not sparing a glance at the duo. "They were kind enough to let us ride on their animals and their rides, which Nora enjoyed highly."

"And you? What'dya think about the rides?"

"I could live without them."

She punched him on the shoulder, not knocking him back but eliciting a strange look from Ren. "Come on, can't take a bit of energy in your life?"

"May I remind you that I _live_ with energy."

"Oh yeah."

"Mmm." He looked over at her. "And you? How have your experiences with amusement parks gone?"

"I learned that if Ruby gets her hands on cotton candy, she'll bounce off the walls. Literally."

Ren gave a single light chuckle with a noise from his throat and an exhale of air from his nose. "That must have been quite the sight."

"It was. More scary than cool, but yeah, it was funny to watch. Especially when the staff tried to get her to calm down... oh, that was a golden moment."

"I'm assuming you've gone to this amusement park before then?"

"Yeah, when Ruby was ten we went there once. She didn't even have her semblance yet, but she almost ran completely out of sight once she saw the first ride." She laughed at the memory, garnering a smile from Ren as he watched her regale her own memories in her mind.

"I suppose taking her to an amusement park is out of the question with her next week, then."

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. Speaking of next weekend, who're ya' planning on crossing off your list first? If you ask me, I'd pick Ruby."

"How come?" He was going to choose her first anyway, it would allow him to have the opportunity to ask her about what Weiss would enjoy, but he wanted to hear Yang's explanation.

"Well, there's this weapons convention that'll be going on next weekend, and she's been begging each of us to go with her since her uncle got her two tickets. I... uh... didn't really wanna go, and neither did any of us, so she got a little down about it. You going with her would be able to perk her right back up! And it would take the whole day too, so that works out in your favor."

"I guess it does. What will you and Blake be doing next weekend?"

"Can't get enough of us already?" Ren opened his mouth again to protest, but she just waved a hand. "Relax, I'm joking. It's kinda my thing if you haven't noticed yet."

He gave a small forced smile. "Of course."

"Blake n' I are planning on doing that same partner mission thing that Ruby dragged Weiss into."

Ren looked at her. "Why didn't you just go with them this weekend?"

"The supervisor only takes one couple at a time. After all, it's couples training, not team training. So Blake and I get our turn next weekend."

"I see."

"Yeah." They turned another corner, and kept walking, Ren with his hands behind his back and Yang slightly sashaying in the way she always did. "So what was your favorite ride when you were little?"

"To be honest, I don't remember much of the rides. My memories mainly consist of Nora attempting to mount a hippopotamus."

"She tried to ride a hippo?"

"Full-grown."

"Jeez, you need to introduce me to her Ren! I think her and I will get on like lightning and gasoline!"

 _That's exactly why I don't want you two to meet. I'd rather not have to change academies because you two blew it up,_ he thought to himself. "I'll see too it," he lied.

"Sweet! Finally, someone who understands my _explosive_ tendencies. Eh? Eh?" She nudged him with an elbow, unfazed as he kept walking with a shake of his head.

* * *

Cardin was a strong guy, but he wasn't _that_ strong. Looking down at the opened cooler after he tried to pull it from the fridge, he couldn't believe it. Not only did he find something that he couldn't lift, but he actually had blackmail material on Blake Belladonna, the exact girl who had embarrassed him last night. Rubbing his cheeks as the phantom pain returned, he dialed up his team for some help. After Sky picked up and told him that they'd be right there, he put his scroll back and made an evil laugh.

"Oh, this is gonna be good, Belladonna."

Within five minutes his team made it to the lunch room, and he gestured for them to come in through the open doorway.

"So... what's this?" Russell asked with a confused tone.

"It's a fish, dumb ass. We just went to a festival full of them yesterday," Dove answered.

"I know it's a fish, but why's it so big? And why's it here?"

"Maybe if you idiots stopped asking so many damn questions, I could answer a few of them for you," Cardin said, irritated at his group already. "That Belladonna girl on RWBY. You guys know her?"

Russell spoke up first. "Yeah, quiet, good-looking one right?"

"Russell, all the girls here look bangin'." He nodded in agreement. "But yeah, she's the quiet one on their team, right? Always see her with a book too," Sky finished.

"Yeah, yeah that's her. She and her friend from JNPR messed with me last night, and I've got just the token to get back at her." He kicked the cooler, flopping noises reacting to the sudden trauma. "This."

"This?" Dove asked. "This is a giant catfish. What the hell do you think's gonna give us leverage over her with a big fish?"

"She defended this thing with her life. Trust me..." Gold flashed before his eyes, and he resisted the urge to shudder. "... I know."

"Sooo... what. We're gonna steal this thing?"

"No, I wanted you all to get a nice look before I ate it all. Of course I want to steal it, idiot!"

Dove just put his hands up a bit. "Woah, alright. I gotcha, we're stealing it. So are we gonna put it in our dorm?"

"Yeah, we're gonna do that."

"But it's gonna look weird for us just lugging around this giant cooler, won't it?"

"Russell, I don't know if you've forgotten, but almost everyone here is scared of us. Scared of _me_ ," Cardin continued with a proud puff of his chest. "We're not gonna be gettin' any questions."

"Alright then. Sounds like a plan," Sky agreed.

"Course it sounds like a plan. It's mine."

Russell and Dove shared a look at each other, but they shrugged either way. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"You still have the one-hundred lien gave you?"

"Yeah, right here." She patted a small pocket on her brown shorts, lien card visibly sticking out. Noticing Ren's skeptical look, she stopped walking and made a pose. "Staring already Ren?"

Ignoring the flirtatious attitude, he stopped as well and gestured with an open hand at the lien card. "That hardly counts as a pocket."

"And why's that?"

"I can _see_ the denomination on the card sticking out."

"Yeah, so? It's not like anyone's stealing from us. I mean, look at us! We look bad-ass compared to everyone around us." She made a wide gesture with her hands, bystanders that were within earshot turning to look at her for a moment before dismissing her. "Nobody's getting close to this." Shaking her hips a bit, she continued walking as Ren fell in step with her yet again.

"I just advise caution. In such a crowded place like an amusement park, it's easy to lose things in such a... vulnerable place."

"Trust me Ren, these hips are _not_ vulnerable."

"I was not addressing your hips, Yang. I was addressing the pocket."

"Oh. Figures."

"Mmm."

"Why're you so cautious about this stuff anyway? You don't look like someone who loses stuff, sure, but it's still a bit overboard."

He shrugged as he walked. "Concern never hurt anyone. And with Nora, it became a life-saver."

She inhaled a bit of air through clenched teeth. "Ooo, yeah. I can see that."

"Have you ever needed to exercise such caution with your younger sister?"

"Oh, yeah, all the time. But it wasn't ever for someone stealing from her; she was the fastest kid I knew and still know. But I did have to keep her from running into trouble, literally and figuratively."

"I see. I suppose we share common memories then."

She chuckled, not one full of mirth but still one of humor. "Yeah, I guess."

They passed the next few minutes in silence, oddly comfortable for the blonde of the two as they simply absorbed the seaside atmosphere. It really was picturesque; seagulls were squawking their songs, standing in groups or by their lonesome on posts made of aged wood. Boards were taking in ships of all ages and sizes, new Atlesian carriers to rickety Vacuan junks. Seamen were managing the ropes, and the distance from which the city's paved sidewalks to wooden docks connected was minuscule at best. A blue, radiant sea of possibility laid itself right in front of their eyes, bright coloring not belying the aquatic Grimm that lie beneath the waves. In the distance, a large, red Ferris wheel spun slowly, the hallmark of Vale's amusement park.

"That's where we're heading," Yang said after she had listened to the waves crash against rocks and piers alike while they walked.

"I see it. How large is it?"

"It's pretty big," she said as an indirect answer.

"Yeah." A few more seconds of silent walking passed by. "So what is our first stop once we get into the park?"

"I'm probably gonna get some cotton candy. I haven't had any in _years_ , and it's about time I get to know my best friend again."

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about the fact that Yang had addressed her food as a person. "So after you eat your fill of empty sugary treats,"

"Hey! It's not empty! It's full of joy and awesome, thank you very much."

"- What's our first ride?"

"I dunno. We'll just roll with it and see where it takes us."

Ren was confused at best. "Roll... with it?"

"Yeah. Just let the waves take us where they want, and we'll get on whatever ship presents itself."

"So we have no plan going into this park."

"Hey, did you and Blake have a plan when you went to Forrester yesterday?"

"Yes, actually." _Until they crashed into Old Lady Mountain,_ he thought. "It was to go fishing."

"Yeah, but how'd that go for you two?"

"It was only a minor setback. And we traced our path to each destination."

"Oh, but that's boring! Come on, man! Live on the edge for once!"

"I've lived on the edge wi-"

"Nope."

He brought his head back slightly in confusion. "What?"

"We're not gonna involve Nora in this. This weekend, today, you've been given a free pass to do what _you_ want, Ren. Take a break from the routine, the same old same old." Yang put her hands behind her head and nodded her head to some invisible, gentle beat as she walked. "Have some fun."

He thought about it. _Well, yesterday_ was _fun. And I didn't plan everything... especially the part where I was forced to attend a festival instead of fish for a relaxing day. I didn't expect to become involved in a fight against two students from another academy. I most definitely didn't plan meeting the headmaster of one either... and I guess I did have fun._

"Huh," he said out loud.

She looked over, elbows still sticking out. "So whaddya say?"

He looked over. "Yeah, sure. Let's do it."

"Sweet! Alright, first step, relax."

"Wait, we're starting now?"

"Yeah! Now relax. This walk is perfect. Just listen to some calming stuff like the waves or something. It works pretty well for me; reminds me of my home."

"Listen to something relaxing," he repeated. "That's all it takes?"

"For me, yeah. Just live in the now. You've only got one today everyday." She shot a smile, and Ren didn't really think that phrase worked. He opened his mouth to speak, but he held it back.

Instead, he opted to listen to her."So be it." He tuned himself into the sounds around him. At first, he heard a spectrum of noises. The squawks of seagulls. The commotion of hefty, hardened seamen or light, dainty townspeople. Doors opening and closing, horns blaring in the distance. But he focused on the waves.

How they crashed on the waves with a constant rhythm. How they never ceased to stop with their loud, yet comforting noise. And soon enough, Ren found himself walking with the salty sea breeze, eyes looking around with a serenity that he hadn't felt in a long time. He envisioned an easier world, where he could simply relax with all of those dear to him. Drifting to another reality, he thought of what it would be like if he were to live on a beach forever with his friends.

"You're looking pretty happy there, buddy." Yang was smiling at the sight of Ren staring at something in the distance, eyes focused yet dilated as he stopped worrying about everything Nora, and started putting more towards himself.

"Quite." He maintained his same walking stance, hands behind the back, but the steps were more leisurely, less rushed and more steady. But what took the cake for Yang was the slight smile that had stayed on his lips for the past minute, the same feeling of seeing Blake smile for the first time coming back to her.

 _Guess I've finally made a way for the stone statue to smile,_ she thought as she kept walking, Ren still taking his time with his surroundings as he let himself unwind from all the stress of having to deal with unknown factors.

"Yang, a part of me is telling my brain that this is very dangerous for my ability to perceive threats."

"Ah, you'll be fine." As if reacting to her statement, Ren tripped over a small pebble, catching himself with his hands but landing with a groan anyway. Yang just laughed, much to Ren's ire.

"You were saying?"

"Alright, alright, sorry. Next time I'll watch your surroundings before I say that nothing'll hurt you."

He dusted off his tunic as he shook his head with chuckle. "I'd better hope so."

* * *

The room was darkly lit. A single chair was in the middle, a man with a spiked shoulder pad lolling his head back and forth as gold eyes burned in the darkness, body obscured by the shadows. Her name, Blake Belladonna. And she was on the hunt for something dear to her heart.

And stomach.

As the light flickered for a moment, obscuring the room in darkness, gold eyes suddenly went face to face with shaded blue, breath-length from each other.

"I'll give you another shot, Thrush. You can tell me where my fish is. Or you're going out the way your friends did." This elicited a groan from the corner of the room where his teammates, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark were lying in a messy heap of body parts, each knocked out by an expert blow to the back of the head.

Russell didn't say anything, but he managed to croak a bit before coughing.

"That wasn't an answer." She kicked the side of the chair, knocking him over with a groan.

"One more shot before I make you pay the consequences."

"Please... no..."

Gold remained unwavering. "Not an answer." She was about to kick the chair again before Russell frantically shouted.

"NO, wait wait wait! Please, wait..."

She stopped for a moment, and bent over to meet his eyes. "Then tell me."

* * *

"Cardin."

He spun around, glaring as he recognized the voice. Reaching for his weapon on the table next to him, he spoke. "You. What did you do to my teammates."

"Oh, nothing." She was twirling her ribbon on her finger. "Just had to get some information from them. I didn't hurt them too badly."

* * *

Back inside...

"DID SHE SERIOUSLY LEAVE US WITH POKEMON GO IN THIS ROOM?"

"Dude, it could've gone worse."

"DON'T DUDE ME!" Dove shoved his scroll into Sky's face. "I HAVE TO PACE AROUND IN THIS ROOM FOR DAMN HOURS JUST TO GET THIS EGG TO HATCH!"

Russell winced. "Ooo, that's rough dude. And I can't catch anything in here! Well, there's a pidgey. But that's the twentieth damn pidgey I've caught!"

"AAAAAUGH HATCH ALREADYYYYY!" Dove started running circles around the room as Sky just looked at him.

"You retar- HOLY SHIT A CHARIZARD!"

Everyone in the room froze.

"You know what this means, right?"

Russell nodded. "I do."

"Me too."

Suddenly, they pulled out baseball caps from their... somewhere, and put them on in the corniest fashion ever, turning said caps backwards in what looked like the funniest yet most sad thing that someone could witness.

They shouted in unison. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A POKEMON BATTLE!"

* * *

"Well, they might be mentally hurt. But it's nothing aura can't fix."

Cardin clenched his teeth and his fists, his aura manifesting itself already as a dark black-red. "You're gonna pay for this."

Blake returned the glare, bringing her weapon about her as she unsheathed the blade, dual-wielding stance at the ready. "I didn't bring my wallet. Guess I can settle it another way."

He snarled, and charged.

* * *

 **Notes:** **not the funniest chapter or most action-packed, but stuff like that is coming next chapter.**

 **'sides, i had to set the stage! :D**

 **thank you all for the support, and i'll see you in the next chapter!**


	11. The Amusement Park: Yang P 2

**so, after dedicating some time towards Weiss n' Burgers, this is finally out! with no small dosage of procrastination and whatnot from me. I play too many video games for my own good.**

 **jeez, I need a life.**

* * *

 **What's this? Banned in all four nations? No way!**

 **It's RWBY(R)!**

 **Yang's Arc P. 2: The Amusement Park**

A swing and a miss, the doorway chipping under the brute force.

An expert twirl, and another direct strike connecting with nothing but frayed wood.

White teeth glinted in a smirk at their opponent's blind anger.

Darkened blue eyes narrowing, irritated at the fact that their foe was teasing them, fists gripping the mace with whitened-knuckles.

More shouts of how the faunus won't get her prize.

The distinct noise of something snarling, teeth bared and eyes predatory. How the man, clad in shining armor, stood for nothing but anger and hate. How he did nothing good for anyone.

And how the faunus would put him in his place, once and for all.

The combat continued for a minute more. Strikes parried by two blades, fast kicks under the strongman's guard fazing him not.

"Show me your pirouettes, feints, and spins, _Belladonna_."

She scoffed. "You asked for it." The next techniques were a blur, taking but a moment each to complete.

A spin. Blades arcing downward in purple streaks, after images fading in the air as she pushed the advantage, speed overcoming brute strength.

The twirl. Ribbon fluttering behind the sword, forming a deadly cacophony of noise as mace met bladed sheath multiple times.

A pirouette, a straight jab that made contact with the armor, denting it not but forcing her opponent farther back into their arena.

The counters came next, her opponent attempting to crush her into the ground, to end the fight with large, overbearing strikes. A large swing downwards exposed his midsection, and received a kick for the mistake.

He spun to deliver a large, arcing swing, and only met thin air, his opponent rolling as he fell forward, momentum carrying him too far.

Turning to face his foe, he rose his club in a defensive position.

But a finisher came in the form of a feint, a slice downwards retracted to strike a back kick to the face instead, knocking her foe onto his back, groan accompanied by the sound of screeching metal on the wooden floor.

"Hng…" He tried to get up, but was stopped by a blade pointed right at his throat, edge threatening to do much worse than batter his armor and pride.

"Where. Is it."

He laughed, spitting at her but reaching nothing but air as she sidestepped, and pressed the blade onto his throat, barely touching the hairs of the skin.

"You'll never find it. It's gone already."

"You're lying."

Another evil chuckle. "Try me."

She pressed the blade closer, edge touching the skin. "Oh trust me." She pulled the blade back, and sheathed it. "I'll try you."

Cardin was still lying on the floor, paralyzed by the presence in the room, mace lying too far away for him to retrieve it. He looked at his foe, golden gaze staring him down at his feet.

"So what. You're gonna look at me really funny be-EEEEEEEEE"

Another well-aimed kick, and his voice went up an octave.

* * *

The early morning lines hadn't really started up yet, even after Ren had started to slow down his pace slightly. All toll booths were open, Yang and Ren choosing the shortest one as they slowly hobbled their way forward in the fast-moving lines.

"I guess there aren't too many people here today," Yang remarked.

"I suppose."

"What time is it anyway?"

He took out his scroll. "Five past ten," he answered monotonously before putting the scroll back into his pant pocket.

"Wow, we really took our time walking out there."

"Mmm." He took a deep breath, sea breeze still lingering on his nose. "Paid off well though."

"Yeah, I finally got you to loosen up! But the day's not over yet."

"I'm well aware of that. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm still not sure."

"Oh, come on!" She exclaimed as they stepped up to the entry way, ticket booth situated at its side.

"Two tickets, please!"

The woman behind the counter looked at them one at a time, lowering her glasses. "You two together?"

"Yup."

"That'll be six lien." Yang looked towards Ren, and he reared his head slightly.

"What?"

"I let the guys pay. Besides, I wanna hold onto this lien."

He shook his head. "Of course you do." Stepping closer to the small booth, old woman behind the glass smiling, he took out a five and one denomination lien cards. "Here you go, ma'am."

She slid them under, and handed him back two small passes eligible for entry or reentry today only, along with a built in balance for a maximum of ten rides. "Good luck, kiddo." He looked back at Yang to see a wide grin as he took the tickets with a slight nod and a forced curve of the lips. Moving through the entryway, he looked around to familiarize himself with his surroundings. The park was massive, rides stretching into the skies as blinking signs and arrows redirected his attention downwards, shows and mazes attracting all the attention they could in the early morning sun. Although the lines were short, the park itself was bustling with people, lines forming at many of the larger roller coasters and mirror mazes already.

"So, whaddya think, Ren? Impressed?"

He didn't answer for a moment as he kept looking around. _Different than what I remember from what I saw with Nora..._

"Yes. This is quite... awe-inspiring."

"Tell me about it, man. Alright! Now, where can I get some cotton candy around here?" She walked off towards a map situated on the side for attendees who couldn't find their way, Ren following behind her after a moment's pause of staring at the rides. "Says here that food n' stuff is right over... there." She tapped the map, and started walking in a direction before Ren gave the look another look.

"Yang, that's the wrong way."

"Wha-?" She turned around. "You sure?"

"I'm sure." Blonde hair bounced as she walked back, Ren pointing a finger at their current location noted with a large, red dot. "Food courts are this way."

"Oh. Well, let's go... that way then!" Unfazed by the change in course, she just kept walking.

It was path littered with signs for various acts of magic and dazzling gems, enticing with large letters written on old-fashioned chalk boards or holographic. The park was already starting to come alive, the distant noise of screaming children and adults alike filling their ears.

"You hear that, Ren?"

"I do. They sound terrified."

"I think they are. And _we're_ gonna be screaming like that too."

"I think you will. I won't be screaming."

She rose a blonde eyebrow. "Oh, really now? You won't scream, at all."

He nodded.

"You know, this is another part of relaxing for you."

"And that is?"

"Let yourself go!" She laughed. "I don't know how you can always remain so straight-faced all the time when you're around us at lunch, but that's stopping for at least today."

"What would that imply me doing then?"

"I dunno. Laugh?"

"You want me to laugh?"

"Smile, enjoy yourself, not be Lie Ren..."

"Not be Lie Ren?"

"You know what I mean."

"I really do not."

"Just... be like Nora for a bit! Be carefree like her!"

"Yang, I can't just become Nora for a day."

"What I meant is that you should act how she does everyday!"

"Overexaggerate?"

"Relax."

"Obsess over pancakes?"

"Try diverse food."

"Not do my homework?"

"Worry about the now."

He sighed. "Yang, that's just not who I am."

They continued on in silence until they made it to a small semi-circle of stalls set up with sugary treats and confectionary delights, hot dogs and hamburgers taking second place in the glory of fructose.

"Yeah! Here we go..." Lilac came alive when they saw the stalls, white and blue fluffs of sugar being set-up one by one, nearly untouched by the crowds of the day.

Ren just followed behind her slowly, pacing himself instead of Yang, who was nearly skipping to the stall. The confectioner at the small stall looked up at the teenager with kind eyes, and offered a wide smile as she plucked one from the rack, Yang reflecting the same smile as she bit into the fluffiness. Walking away from the stall with cotton candy in hand, Ren rose an eyebrow.

"You're not going to pay for that?"

"Don't have to." She took another voracious chomp of the cotton candy. "Comes free with our pass."

He didn't notice that feature before. "Ah. I see."

"You want some?"

Ren gave a small grimace. "I would rather not, thank you."

"Oh, come on! This is what I'm talking about! At least try some sugary things instead of those natural mixes you always make!"

"What's wrong with my natural mixes?"

"Honestly, they taste like crap."

"Wait, wha-?"

"And besides, aren't you supposed to get a lot of sugar every day or something?"

"I don't believe sugar is-"

"Yeah! Alright, so let's go grab some." It wasn't really his choice at this point, as she grabbed his arm with an iron grip and pulled him towards the stand, him standing as straight as a board, heels of his shoes making lines in the ground as they tried to bring the involuntary movement to a halt. She plucked another stick off of the rack, the old man not noticing as he was still busy swirling up more in his machine. She shoved it towards Ren's direction. "Now eat."

Looking down at the fluffy sugar wisps, looking back up he nodded in the negatory. "Again, I would rather not."

She rose an eyebrow. "Eat."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Multiple scientific studies and tests have proven that overconsumption of sugary treats such as cotton candy can lead to heart disease."

"You're not gonna have a stroke because you had one stick of cotton candy, Ren."

"That's what you think."

She sighed, exasperated by Ren's constant denial of sugar. "Have you even tried cotton candy before?" Ren just remained silent on the matter as Yang's eyes went wide. "You've never had cotton candy."

Shrug.

"What about... chocolate?"

Another shrug.

"Seriously?"

"I've just never developed a sweet tooth, unlike you and Nora."

There was silence for a bit.

"Ren, I actually feel bad for you. Just try some! It's not like you have to finish the whole stick, anyway."

He looked down at the stick. "If I try some of this, will you avoid recommending food for the rest of the day?"

"No promises."

Sighing to himself, knowing that was the best answer he could probably get, he took the stick. "Alright." Taking a bite from the cotton candy, he looked absolutely indifferent as he chewed. "I did it."

"So whatdya think?"

"My suspicions were correct. This is very sugary." He looked at it. "But it's not bad. I can see how people can become addicted to this."

Yang smiled. "Alright! So you don't hate it?"

"I guess not." Handing the stick to her, he shrugged. "But I can't finish it."

She hesitated for a moment, but plucked it from his hands within a second. "If you say so."

She scarfed it down while Ren turned to the man, thanked him for the cotton candy, earning a smile and an offer for another cotton candy, which Ren turned down politely but vehemently before walking away.

"Woah, wait! Where're you going!" Yang threw away what Ren could only assume what was his cotton candy, only the stick remaining.

"To find a map."

"Oh," she spoke with a mouthful of candy before swallowing, "Remember what I said?"

"You've said a lot of things."

"Okay, one, ouch. Two, don't plan everything out!" She waved her hand. "Just do whatever."

"And if we get lost?"

"Ren, we can't get lost in here. There's signs and stuff everywhere, and if it comes to it we can just use our scrolls."

Thinking about it for a moment before nodding, he stopped walking to let Yang catch up to him. "I suppose it's pointless to ask where we're going first, then."

She popped the 'p.' "Yep."

"Most logical question would be which direction then."

"Nope."

"No?"

"Just walk wherever. I'll follow you."

As much as he wanted to leave the loud, sugar-filled environment, he knew he couldn't just walk out of the amusement park. Looking around, he tried to see something that caught his eye, and a particularly large rollercoaster presented itself as a potential direction to move towards.

"This way, then." He walked in the general direction of the mega-roller coaster, Yang following with her own near-finished cotton candy in hand.

Even more people were in attendance at the park now, children especially as they ran about, parents barely keeping up with their youth. Both Yang and Ren recalled memories of their past as they strolled about in the direction of their destination, stopping occasionally to make a bad joke with wordplay, or a remark on how, through studies, amusement park rides are the safest out there. They also noted that each and every ride promised a vibrant life during the night-time; they were all equipped with lights ranging from neon to fire dust-powered as they lined the horses, guardrails, and railings. The Ferris wheel, however, didn't wait for night to arrive before they turned on the lights. From a distance, only the bright red circle was visible, but upon closer inspection there were multicolored ribbon-like lights that criss-crossed the metalworks, making it seem like a circular rainbow forever in motion.

"Yang?"

"Sup?"

"That Ferris wheel. Did you and Ruby go on it when you were little?"

"Nah, we didn't get a chance to. Why?"

"Hm. Nothing."

Nothing wasn't an answer for Yang, so she kept going. "You plannin' on taking me around for a _spin_? Eh?"

"Following that wisecrack, I'm not so sure."

"So you were!"

"Past-tense."

"Oh, what!?"

* * *

Cardin passed out right after Blake kicked him, pain obviously going to his head as he relaxed his muscles and made the impression that he was sleeping. It didn't take long for the huntress to find her prey; it wasn't very well hidden, the bathroom being a very conspicuous place in itself already. Making off with her prize, she considered deepening the embarrassment for Cardin. Dialing the medical attention hotline from Cardin's scroll, she grinned before pulling the cooler through CRDL's doorway, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

"Please, what's wrong with my voice? Why does it sound like this?" The voice, or squeaking, was coming from the one and only Cardin Winchester, sitting on a bed in the nurses office. He was blushing heavily in embarrassment at the sound of his voice, the high-pitched noise making even the nurse laugh out loud when she first heard it.

"Mr. Winchester, did you recently... endure trauma in a certain area of your body?"

He remained silent to preserve what little dignity he had as he nodded in the affirmative fashion, mind flashing back to the battle that he had with a certain someone from Team RWBY. He promised to himself that he would get her back for defeating him twice now, but he had more important issues to worry about at the moment.

The nurse barely stifled another laugh, much to Cardin's ire. "Mr. Winchester, please follow me," managing a sentence through her small chuckles. She made a gesture for him to follow her, and she led them to a small examination room. "There are no cameras, nor monitors of any kind in this room, before you ask. Now, could you please stand over there? I need to take a full body image." She pointed towards a small, cylindrical pod that looked like it would allow someone to stand up straight in it.

Following her orders, he stepped in, and opened his mouth before shutting it again, remembering the predicament he was in with his voice.

"Alright, I need you to raise your hands above you," she demonstrated, "Like this." He did as he was told, and she closed the door. A blue light washed over him, and a beeping noise followed by a sign instructing him to hold still flashed above his head. After ten more seconds, the door opened without noise and Cardin stepped out to see the nurse holding a scroll, a diagram of what he could only assume was his own body by the looks of it. Gesturing with her open hand to step to her side, he did as she asked. This time, he noticed, the woman was actually not laughing, but putting on a serious expression.

She pointed at his crotch, and spoke. "Mr. Winchester, I can either give you the good news or the bad news first. Which one do you want?"

He spoke with his high-pitched squeaking. "Good."

"Alright, well, your voice won't stay like this forever. I'd give it a week, two at most."

He twitched his eye. Was that really the good news? School was starting tomorrow, and he had to give a speech on dust application on weaponry on Tuesday. He opened his mouth, but the nurse interrupted him.

"I will be letting the teachers know of your..." She cleared her throat, covering her mouth with a fist that barely concealed a smirk, "condition. Now, onto the bad news."

Cardin frowned.

"Your voice... is stuck in it's prepubescent stage." His eyes went wide, and he wanted to threaten the woman, make her pay for what she said. But she was right, his voice sounded too childish to do anything frightening. She took it for shock, and consoled him with the comforting tone of a nurse. "Again, it'll only last a week or two at most. But at this stage of time, I would recommend avoiding further trauma to your testes lest you want to reduce your odds of procreating to zero."

"I... don't understand! How could this happen?" He sounded like a child crying about their toy.

"Well, excessive force to your testicles forced them to recede upwards, reaching the point where you did not reach puberty yet."

"So my balls haven't dropped yet."

She winced slightly at the vulgar language, but she nodded. "Yes, that would be correct."

"Isn't there anything else you can do? Something I can do or eat or something?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Winchester. You're just going to have to wait for your testes to return to their normal position. There is... nothing more to it, I'm afraid."

"... You're not pranking me, are you."

"Mr. Winchester, I do not prank or joke with medical conditions. This is a serious matter, and I will treat it as such. Now, I would recommend getting rest. It won't speed up your recovery, but it won't slow it down either."

After a moment of conflicting reactions, he turned around and left without another word, fuming at his situation and how the nurse was making herself as neutral as possible. What made the wound go deeper was how after he turned the corner away from the nurse's office, he heard her uncontrollable laughter radiate through the hallways, making him duck his head in embarrassment as he trailed back to his dorm room.

* * *

"Please make sure arms, legs, and tails are inside the cart at all times," droned the amusement park worker's voice. A black railing lowered itself over the rider's chests, and they pulled it towards them, clicking each time. "Thank you for riding with us today. Have fun." The intercom shut off and the ride started whirring up.

Yang looked over at Ren, who insisted that they sit together so that she could finally see him make an expression that wasn't skeptical, confused, or slightly happy. He vehemently argued that he wouldn't scream, but even he wasn't so sure now. He didn't let it show, but the large roller-coaster was intimidating already. It was called the Grimm Twist, involved multiple corkscrews and flips, and was acclaimed to be one of Remnant's best corkscrew-coasters. In his mind, he was regretting walking towards the largest thing in sight, but Yang seemed very excited by the prospect.

"So, you ready Ren?" Her arms were on the side of the arm rails, one hand each closer to her head. "I'm not going easy on you when I picked this one."

"I'm not sure if one can prepare themselves for something like this," he replied. Taking the same position with his hands, he kept looking forward. "Are you not going to tie your hair back?"

"Nah. I like to let it run loose once in awhile."

"I see." They were suddenly jolted forward slightly as the coaster finally started moving, climbing upwards bit by bit. The ascent was fairly steep, making them lean back in their seats each time they slowly went upwards.

"Soooo you're sure you're not nervous?"

He gulped, but Yang didn't see it. "I am prepared for what lies ahead."

She laughed. "Oh, hoh... that's a good one." They were halfway up now, and Ren looked out of his peripherals to see how high they were. He estimated that they were about 50 meters up, and he turned his gaze back to Yang, who was beaming and... closing her eyes?

"You plan on sleeping?"

"I'm collecting my voice." She opened her eyes and gave a toothy grin. "If you won't scream, that doesn't mean that I can't."

"I'm well aware of that."

"You'll learn that screaming makes it more fun! Otherwise you're keeping all of that stuff inside of you; that can't be good for your health."

"And you are an expert on health?"

"Nope!" She pulled out sunglasses from her pants pocket, making Ren wonder how he didn't see them before. "I'm an expert on fun."

He was about to question the eyewear, but the rollercoaster decided for him. They reached had reached the apex of the rollercoaster, and they stayed there for a moment, breeze high above the ground ruffling everyone's hair. They stayed there for a few more moments, making Ren think that the ride was broken, mind immediately racing to situations where they were stuck on a cart with ten other people one hundred meters up.

And then it dropped. The feeling of adrenaline, euphoric dropping feeling as one's stomach rose up, filled them with exhilaration. The first movement was a straight downwards plunge, eliciting screams from everybody except Ren already as they kept dropping, arms being risen into the air as they let the cart take them where it wanted. It twisted and curved right, gaining ground once again as purple anti-gravitational dust activated, ensuring that the cart remained on the track. The surrounding blended into a mixed up blur, colors melding together as they continued to rush through the ride. After the large curve, Ren saw a corkscrew ahead, and gripped the handlebars of his harness with whitened knuckles. Purple dust surrounded the sides of the cart yet again, and they went through the screwing motion once, curving them through as the ride, as smooth as it was, made Ren feel like he was going to fall off. Sitting at the front of the cart didn't help either; it let him see what was coming next. The coaster took a dive again after a short ascent, and corkscrewed as it was curving, making his head spin literally and momentarily filling his field of vision with Yang's hair. Looking over, he saw that she had her hands raised into the air, screaming all the while as she enjoyed the rush.

The ride began to slow down as Ren returned his gaze to what was in front of him, the same station where he got in the cart already in sight. The cloud nine sensation leaving their minds, everyone in the cart began to calm down, fixing their hair and laughing with their friends, some taking their scrolls out to snap a picture of themselves or the others in the cart. Yang took to ruffling her hair a few times, and miraculously it looked better after a few frazzles of the hand. Looking over at Ren, who was glued to his chair with wide eyes, she grinned.

"How was it?"

He didn't respond for a moment, blinking a few times as he coughed. "It was new." He didn't make eye contact as he remained back pressed into the cushioned chair, Yang already relaxing.

"Ya'know, if you were screaming during the ride, you wouldn't be so tense right now."

"I don't believe that."

"Dude, I could poke you with a stick and you'd shatter. I know tense; I'm on a team with it."

The cart, returning to the station with a click, disengaged the black handlebar harnesses, and everyone stood up, stretching as the workers gave them a helping hand stepping out. They were still talking about the ride when Ren and Yang, the former's face still slightly paled while Yang looked as vibrant as always, stepped off and walked away.

Eager to get to their next destination, she looked over, color slowly returning to the quiet teenager's face. "So, where to next, Ren?"

He twitched an eye. "I could use a break before I went for another ride, Yang."

"Aw, but you've gotta keep the streak going! It's like a combo in my fighting games, you've gotta chain them together in order to make an awesome finisher!"

"Awesome finisher?" The very concept of a rollercoaster that would prove itself to be 'awesome' in Yang's book nearly made Ren shudder.

"Yeah! Unless you can't take the heat."

Raising an eyebrow, he look at her. "Was that another pun with your semblance?"

"No. But thanks for telling me." He mentally facepalmed for his mistake. "Now, why didn't you scream?"

"I'm not one to scream."

"But it's relaxing! Gets out all the kinks and stuff in your body."

"I doubt that's how bodies work."

She thought for a moment, bringing a hand to her chin. "Hm. Well, let's try it."

"Try?..."

"Well, you're gonna try it. You are going to scream today, Ren."

"I doubt that."

"Oh, you should never doubt the powers of a Xiao-Long. Especially when we set our minds to a task."

He sighed. "Yang, I'm not going to scream."

"Ren, I will seriously make it my job to make you scream today."

Shrugging, he kept walking.

 **Twenty minutes later...**

"Alright! Trial number one, Ren." They were on another rollercoaster already, Ren saying that he could still use a bit more time to rest, Yang countering with the reasoning that it was her job to keep the adrenaline levels up for the day. "Since that last one wasn't good enough, we're going to try this one." The same message of keeping all body parts inside the cart repeated over the intercom, and the same black guards lowered themselves over the people.

It was a corkscrew-free rollercoaster this time, consisting mainly of high ascents and sudden drops. Yang took to it quickly, and pulled him into line with her quite literally as Ren just remained silent. He questioned the sudden enthusiasm, but Yang would only dodge the question with other topics. It was daunting by itself already, the coaster proving itself to be a challenging one, even to those of seasoned expertise riding. It was called, "Life's Ways," and Ren could only assume it was a wordplay on the ups and downs of life. He found the metaphor to be aesthetically and audibly pleasing until the ride started up. The same noise could be heard, the click of locks on the cart disengaging as it slowly climbed upwards, gravity forcing him to lean backwards as his eyes and neck were the only things that still retained their field of motion. Yang, again to his right in the paired seating, had her eyes closed yet again, so when she opened her mouth to address Ren he was surprised for a moment.

"I can see you staring, Ren."

"I am not staring at you, Yang."

Opening her eyes, lilac met pale pink. "Yeah, whatever you say. You're staring right now."

"I'm simply maintaining eye contact. There is a difference between the two."

"Mhm."

As she turned away to look at how high they were, Ren did as well. He immediately noted that in the thirty-so seconds that had passed, they were now much higher than the previous rollercoaster, at least ten meters more as people started to shrink. That strange feeling when you get high enough in the air filled his mind, and he wasn't sure if it was fear, excitement, or a mixture of both.

 _I'm assuming it's fear,_ he thought as the cart finally started to slow. Looking over again, he noticed how precarious the cart looked at first glance. While there were railings at the side of each cart and anti-gravitational dust infused into said railings, it still made the impression that if one leaned over hard enough, the whole cart would tip off of the railing. The thought filling his mind, he shook it off as the cart slowly crawled forward again, giving him an unbridled view of the clear blue sky.

And then it dropped again. The ascent was terrifyingly exciting in itself, and he heard shrill screams from men, woman, and huntress-in-training alike as they made their first plunge, headlong into the next rise. Resisting to close his eyes due to the wind getting in, he took to blinking rapidly as he took in his surroundings again through the near-drowning noise of screams. After they started to rise again, the track curved downwards and put them on a thirty-degree angle, purple dust seen momentarily every now and then to stabilize the carts.

 _If it's just drops and ascents, this is a rather simpl-_

Ren's thoughts were interrupted by darkness. Complete darkness. They had entered an underground tunnel, and the screams echoed in the cavern as he felt his stomach go upwards, implying that they were going down.

 _Wait. Down?_ The sinking feeling kept going until the cart suddenly jolted to a stop. All he could see in the darkness were the lilac of Yang's eyes, and they were still wide with excitement as she look at Ren. He could only assume she was grinning when she spoke.

"Alright, ready for part two?"

"... Part two?" Ren repeated the words with a skeptical tone. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, just give it a second. It's just winding up."

He was confused as to what she meant until he heard something hissing underneath him. It sounded awfully similar to an airbus's thruster engines when they were lifting off...

"Yang, are we going-!?"

The cart (literally) took off in the direction it came from, purple dust emanating from their end of the cart as a combination of powerful, manmade thrusters and natural dust pushed them upwards. Facing the back of the ride felt strange in itself, so when light suddenly swamped them yet again from behind, he had to blink to make sure he knew what he was seeing. It only took the combination of thruster and dust ten seconds to exit the cavern, and a friendly-sounding male voice spoke loudly from the speakers in front of each seat.

"Please hold on to the handlebars."

Ren held on for dear life while Yang just threw her hands up, ignoring the worker's request.

"WOOOOHOOOOOO!" She sounded like she was having the time of her life, and she looked over at Ren a few times to check how he was doing. Back smushed into his chair, whitened knuckles were still grabbing onto the black handlebars when she made the decision to make Ren try something new. Dropping her hands, and knowing what was coming next, she pried Ren's hands off of the grips quickly enough that it didn't look like he noticed in the rush of the moment.

His face was one of pure shock and terror when they finally hit the highest point that they had ever reached on the ride. But the most surprising thing that came after was not the fact that they were experiencing a harsh plunge, or Ren's realization that he was no longer holding onto the handlebars, but that they were floating.

Midair.

Thrusters still hissing and dust emanating their light, Ren dared to look over the edge. Surely enough, the cart itself was levitating in the air for a few moments, and he felt a finger tap him on the shoulder. Turning around by instinct, he was met by Yang's scroll reflecting their image, and she pressed a button to snap a photo. Grinning, she laughed to herself as she put away the scroll.

"Oh, your face... I've gotta show Rubes once she gets home. Comedy gold."

The cart then began turning, facing front once more. Ren was amazed by the complexity of the technology; the planning and tech required to complete such maneuvers were on par with Atlesian air carriers.

"Yang, did you know this would happen?"

She chuckled. "Eyup. I'm surprised you didn't scream when I made you let go, though."

"That was you?"

She remained silent, but the snicker and smile said everything.

Finally landing with a hiss of hydraulics, the voice over the intercom flared to life again. "You may now let go of the handlebars." Yang readjusted her position in the chair.

"Ready for more?"

He lowered his head. "Of course."

Sure enough, the cart went the same way it came back, running down the track yet again at high speeds. This time, however, Ren tried putting his hands in the air for a few moments at a time, and found it to be... semi-enjoyable.

 _It can't kill me to try, after all. Everybody else is doing it._

Soon enough, the ride came to a close as they stopped back at the same station, the next group of twelve eagerly awaiting their chance to ride the special roller coaster. Stepping off and moving towards the exit, Yang punched Ren on the shoulder, eliciting a look at the blonde of the two.

"Yes?"

"Geez, you're still not loosened up yet?"

"If you are asking if I screamed or not, I didn't."

"Of course you didn't, you're like Blake. You keep all that stuff bottled up."

"Yang, this is my normal personality."

"Your normal personality doesn't like to have fun?"

"It's to remain calm. That does not mean that I'm no fun."

"Really?" She chuckled. "Alright, if you say so man."

* * *

"Weiss, behind you!"

She turned and fired a bolt from Myrtenaster by pure instinct, trusting her partner's call. Sure enough, a small beowolf collapsed behind her, mouth still open in the biting position. She looked back over at Ruby, who was already finished with her side of enemies, jumping up and down and shooting her fist in the air while holding her Crescent Rose idly. Weiss returned the gesture with a small smile, making Ruby jump even higher and run over to her in a literal flash.

"Oh, Weiss that was so cool! You were all like, woosh, woosh, pow!" She made the crude imitations of Weiss' slices and stabs while adding her own sound effects. Raising her own weapon, she swung it in tiny arcs and pretended to aim at Grimm. "And I was all like, Bang! Bang! Ska-"

"Yes, you two were very impressive." Ruby's eyes went wide, and she immediately calmed down, smoothing out her dress awkwardly. Walking up to them was none other than Professor Peach, small smile on her face as she walked up with a clipboard. "In this small period of time, I've seen much improvement between you and your partner, Ms. Rose." She looked at Weiss. "As well as you, Ms. Schnee." Ruby just gave a sheepish grin while Weiss made a small curtsy.

"Thank you for the praise, Professor Peach," replied the more composed of the two.

"Now, I do believe that a rest is in order."

"Aww, but come on! We were just getting started out there!"

Their instructor raised an eyebrow. "You would like to continue training?"

"Well, I mean... if it's okay with you, Weiss."

All eyes went to the heiress, and she replied without a catch in her voice. "Practice makes perfect, right?" She pretended to ignore Ruby's wide grin as she spoke those words, but Professor Peach obviously noticed the brunette's excitement.

"Hm. Alright then. Allow me a moment, take this as your respite. The next wave will be themed after a defense setting. You will be tasked with defending a control center."

They both nodded, eager smile on Ruby's lips and confidence in her partner's. As Professor Peach walked off, their surroundings turned themselves back into a blank template, slowly fading into the normal black with white outline squares that made their simulation zone.

"I still can't believe they can make real trees from this stuff!"

"Atlesian technology is quite marvellous, I agree."

She looked at Weiss, still smiling. "So, why'd you wanna keep training? You usually take showers after each session, and I have to wait for you for like, thirty minutes!"

Weiss put on an act of being offended. "Thirty minutes? You should check your own time, Ruby!" Her team leader just stuck out her tongue when Weiss dropped the act with a smile. "I decided that more training can't hurt. Besides, I'll be getting dirty again anyway later today. She's going to have us do that intolerable cardio routine again."

"Oh, but cardio's fun! It's full of running!"

"I know that, Ruby. That's why I hate it."

"Stamina's still a good thing to have though! What if you're trying to play tag and you can't catch up to the person you're trying to get?"

Weiss was once again reminded that even though Ruby was the most lethal fifteen year old on Remnant, she still had a surprisingly childish mind. It garnered a tiny smirk, something that only her teammates could ever get her to do. "Ruby, I don't think playing tag is at the top of our to-do lists."

"What's more important than the occasional game of tag?"

She counted them on her fingers. "Protecting the world from the Grimm, making sure the White Fang doesn't terrorize all of Remnant, making sure Nora doesn't blow up the chemistry room, among other things."

Ruby just shrugged, holstered Crescent Rose, and poked Weiss on the arm. "Tag! You're it!"

"Wha-! Ruby! Now's not the time for games like this!"

"Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh! I'm Weiss! Now's not the time for games like this!" She spoke in a mocking voice, just the way she knew Weiss would get irritated at.

Twitching an eye, she decided it was time for a tit for tat rule. "Alright. You wanna play?" She set up a glyph under her feet, and propelled herself past Ruby, poking her with a finger before landing gracefully behind her. "Tag. You're it."

"Hey, no cheating!" Using her semblance again, she disappeared and reappeared in a puff of rose petals, poking Weiss right under her ribs before dashing back again to avoid Weiss' hand.

"You're using your semblance! Why can't I use mine?"

"I'm hearing loser-talk."

"Bu-"

"Looooser."

"Ru-"

"Looooooooooooser!"

"Ruby, I swear to Ou-"

"LOOOS- AHHH!" Having enough of it, Weiss projected a high power glyph under her feet and launched, angry-face her expression. Ruby barely dodged, and Weiss kept up the chase with glyph after glyph, becoming only more infuriated by the girl two years her junior. From a one-way viewing screen, Professor Peach was holding the same clipboard as before, marking down the events with a smile.

"Partners. What can you do," she said to no one in particular as Ruby proclaimed in a dramatic voice that she'll never be caught alive, Weiss following up on that promise with a direct lunge.

* * *

 **and that's a wrap. again. ren and yang didn't get all the action-y comic scenes this time around... again, but I'm working on it. I promise!**

 **also, allow me to shamelessly self-advertise my OTHER story, Weiss n' Burgers! if Ren just isn't your cup of tea, I have started on a little story about how Weiss hasn't ever had a burger in her whole life.**

 **apparently people like it, so should you!**

 ***proceeds to ignore the feeling of self-pity***

 **finished reading these little notes? good for you! here's some extra stuff.**

* * *

 **AND NOW, THE MOMENT THAT YOU WERE ALL WAITING FOR BUT NOT REALLY BECAUSE I JUST BROUGHT IT UP IN THE PREVIOUS SENTENCE AND HOLY CRAP THIS IS A RUN ON!**

 **IT'S RANDOM BANTER!**

(takes place Saturday night.)

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes, Jaune?"

"What do you think about Ren and Nora?" They were in their dorm room, each on their respective bed as the night began winding down.

"What do you mean?" She was busy polishing her weapon on her lap, Jaune putting down his comic book for a second as he made eye contact.

"Like, they're friends but they're not. It's weird."

"Well, they've told us that they're not together in the romantic sense, so that leaves best friends."

"Yeah, and I can see that. But they always hang out together and do everything together, and it throws me off."

She glanced up and gave him a curious look. "Jaune, where are you going with this?"

"Well, ever since Ren left for that dare Nora made for him, she's been acting really really hyper. You can't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Yes, I have noticed." She put her weapon to her side, and shrugged. "Perhaps Ren balances out Nora with his demeanor, and she's been cut loose."

"That's what I was thinking too! And that's also why I'm scared for why she hasn't come back yet. What if she's out there, terrorizing all of the innocent diners for their pancakes and syrup?"

Pyrrha laughed at the thought, even though Jaune didn't think it was that funny, but he laughed a bit too before Pyrrha spoke.

"Yes, I could see that happening..."

* * *

"Alright, man. You've got ten seconds to tell me where the pancakes are, or I'm sendin' you all the way to Vacuo and back!"

"Wh-wh-wh-what? Vacu-?"

"Where ARE THE PANCAKES!"

"Ma'am, we... we don't have pancakes right now!"

She got closer. "And why would that be."

The diner's proprietor gulped. "It-it's night time, and nobody wants pancakes at seven?"

"WELL GUESS WHO DOES!" She backed up, pointing two thumbs at herself. "THIS NOBODY DOES!"

Trying to back away from the sudden loudness of her voice, the man offered her some lien in a shaky hand. "Pl-please take it! I don't want it! Take it! Just don't h-hurt me!"

"Why does everyone give me lien? I don't want that!" She slapped it away, the cards lying on the counter as she put both hands flat down on the granite countertop. "I just want my pancakes."

* * *

"But Nora wouldn't do that, would she?"

A moment of silence passed between the two, awkwardly passing the time with thought. They came to the realization of what Nora could possibly be doing right now at the same time, sky-blue and emerald-green eyes flaring wide.

"Oh dear," Pyrrha said.

"Should we tell Ozpin?"

"I think that as good students, Jaune... we should stay out of this. I'm sure matters will resolve themselves."

Trusting in his partner's advice, he shrugged and picked his comic book back up. "Alright."


	12. Trials and Bros: Yang P 3

**Chugga-chugga-choo-choo! Everyone, welcome back aboard the Ren's Dare!**

 **I know we're a bit off schedule, but please forgive. We had to make several pit stops along the way, but service will be continued without further delay!**

 **Now then, punch your ticket and let's be on our way!**

 **WAIT, NO NO NO! DON'T ACTUALLY PUNCH THE TICKE-**

 _ **NORA SMASH!**_

* * *

 **Yang's Arc P.3: Beat me once...**

"This is a trial?"

"Yeah!"

"Yang... at this point, I really cannot tell if you're joking with me."

"Dude, I'm serious."

Ren was skeptical for good reason. They were standing in front of a 'haunted' house, which in reality was a series of hallways attached by curtained walkways. Nothing impressive to look at, and Ren hypothesized that it wasn't much inside or out.

"Is the worth of a haunted hallway not diminished by the fact that we are in broad daylight?"

"Nope."

"Or that it's simply not the season for… this?" He gestured to the doorway, 'spookily' entrancing possible visitors with the promise of a reward at the end with ghosts and other stereotypical halloween themed items.

"Nah. It looks fun, so let's do it!"

"Fun." His mind went back to the festival yesterday. "Hm."

"What, scared of a few jump scares?" She put on that same teasing smile, nudging the slightly taller teenager with an elbow.

"Yang, I simply don't see the point of this."

"So you're scared."

He knew what she was trying to do; she was trying to aggravate him on purpose. Afraid not this time, friend.

"No, I simply see no reason-"

"Scared."

"Yang, there's-"

"Chicken."

"If you could please stop interr-"

"Buh-cawwww!" She started flapping her elbows like a bird. Ren just twitched an eye, immediately seeing some similarities between this flamboyant blonde and a certain orangette that he's known for all his life.

"You and Nora really would go well together," he muttered mostly to herself.

Yang heard him, though. "I know, right! I'm even saving some awesome jokes for her. Wanna hear some?" A grin went the end of that sentence, knowing that Ren wouldn't. Sure enough, he just waved his head and hands vehemently. "But still though, you're scared."

"Yang, I can assure you that this won't make me scream."

"But…. I don't know that until you try it!"

"Can you not take my word? Have I ever gone back on a promise to you?"

"Other than that time that you promised to keep Ruby away from your pancakes to save some for me a few days back, no."

"Your sister is far too fast, even for me. That was an unfair promise from the start, and you knew that, Yang."

"Well, it was a promise and you broke it." She trailed a fake tear from her eyes with her index finger. "Facts are facts, Ren."

"I'm well aware of that," he sighed. Looking into the entrance, the doorway was supposed to convey dark and foreboding. It just looked terribly dull to Ren; he's taken down killer-monsters of ginormous size, fought horrors that many would never see thanks to his efforts, and Yang thought a haunted hallway would scare him?

"Ren, I'm gonna have to pull out my trump card if you don't go in there."

Raising an eyebrow, he pushed the topic. "And that card would be?"

"If you don't go in the hallway, I'm telling Nora that I had a bad time."

He looked at Yang in surprise and horror. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, yes I would. Remember what I said... " She batted her eyebrows and flicked her hair over her shoulder; there was no doubt seduction was another one of her tactics for obtaining what she wanted if need be. "Xiao-Long's always get their way, flower-boy."

"..."

He couldn't tell what he was more irritated at; the new nickname, the blackmail, or the fact that he was getting manipulated so easily. _I can't fail this dare though. I've never gone back on my word unless it was out of my power, and I've lived by that code since I was born…_

 _And I would have to spend another weekend with Blake and…_ He almost shuddered. Yang. _I haven't even finished a full day with her and she's almost intolerable..._

He settled for addressing the ridiculous nickname first. "Please don't call me that."

"Then get in the hallway." Her voice was sweet, but there was something laced in there like poison in a drink.

He never broke eye contact as he kept talking. "Yang Xiao-Long. This is blackmail."

"Mhm."

"I will never forget this."

"Mmmhm."

"I will get you back for this."

She just smiled. "Course you will, dude. Offfff course you will."

Looking in the hallway, he just sighed. "It's like I'm spending another day with Nora…"

"Isn't that good?"

"You were the one to tell me this morning that I should try to not worry about her."

"Eh, I lied." Ren just drooped his shoulders slightly. "Now go!" She pushed him forward, not making him lose his balance but making him move enough to walk onwards.

"And why am I the one to enter first?" He asked as he was walking forward, the light rapidly making itself less prominent as darkness induced by curtains filled their vision.

"Cause."

"That's not very good reasoning."

Yang didn't get a chance to respond as they were greeted with a rather bored-looking attendant dressed messily in what looked like a witch's costume.

"Hello and welcome to the spooky mansion. Passes please?" Her voice was dull, and it was obvious that she wasn't really interested in the job.

 _Makes sense,_ Ren thought. _It's just not the season for things like this._

They handed her their passes, she glazed over them with lazy eyes, and handed them back.

"Prepare to be spooked." The woman went to the effort of giving small jazz hands. She then returned to the darkness-which in reality was just walking behind the curtain- leaving Yang and Ren in the dark with red neon lights guiding their way.

"Wow." Yang scoffed. "She was really sellin' the act there."

"Mmm."

"So, buddy!"

"Please don't call me that."

"Aw, I can't call you buddy? Well, I've still got all sorts of nicknames. Lotus-boy, flower-boy, flower-kid, pancake-man,"

"Yang."

"Yo."

"Please stop." She just grinned at him, but thankfully didn't say another word about ridiculous nicknames as she just shrugged, her task completed.

"Alright. Let's get in this hallway and make you scream!"

"Yang, out of context these phrase sound very suggestive."

"Only if you want them like that…" She trailed off and raised her eyebrows a few times again, prompting Ren to cross an arm over his chest and prop an elbow on it.

"That is not what I meant, Yang. And again, too blunt."

"Oh, you know I'm joking with you, bud." Ren resisted the urge to correct his nickname, knowing that it was no use. "C'mon! Let's go!" She gestured for him to go first.

"Are you putting me in front merely for the higher probability that I will become startled?"

"That, and I accidentally punched a prop off the wall when it popped out when I was little." Ren gave her a skeptical look, and she returned. "What? It had it coming..."

He just shook his head and walked forward into the dark hallway. Dimly lit save for the red lights, the mood was surprisingly eerie, quiet and dark even though the only thing stopping the light from entering was a set of heavy curtains save for the light behind him.

 _Light behind me?_ He turned around and saw Yang holding up her scroll, transparent screen showing that it was recording.

"Say hi to the folks at Beacon, Ren!"

Raising an eyebrow, he didn't speak a word. The look said it all, and he just turned around-

Right into a pop-out ghost.

Time slowed down.

Yang's face was one of wide-eyed excitement, camera already primed to capture the moment of Lie Ren, partner of THE Nora Valkyrie, scream for his mommy and run 'till kingdom come.

 _It's finally happening!_ Those were the words she thought to herself.

On Ren's side, the ghost in front of him... didn't faze him.

In fact, it just smelled really bad.

 _Like... paint,_ he thought as his mind was filled with the putrid aroma of paint instead of fear.

He already knew it was coming anyway; he was trained from an earlier age than most to hone his aura and feel his surroundings by means other than touch, sight, or hearing. Danger was never one to sneak up on him as long as he was focused.

 _However, the visible indicator of a motion sensor did help_ , he thought to himself, thin red line barely contrasting against the darkness.

So when time finally returned to normal, he just looked at the 'spooky' ghost with a scrupulous eye. It was cardboard with paint slathered on in lazy, uncoordinated strokes, and the dust-powered mechanism made the slightest whirring noise behind the curtain that he strained to hear. Just blinking a few times at the ghost in front of his face as it slowly receded, Yang ran in front of him, still recording. When she saw that same, stoic expression on his face, she just frowned.

"Huh. I thought that would've worked."

"I told you before that this will not work, Yang."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what _you_ think. She pressed a button, and the camera faced her. "Alright, so the first try didn't work. Moving to the secondary scare."

"You do know that I can hear you."

She just turned the camera back to Ren, obviously not hearing his statement. "Right! Let's keep goin'."

Shaking his head at her antics, he kept walking. Yang fell right in step behind her partner for the day, scroll still recording their (not-so) magnificent escapades through the haunted hallway. Time after time again for the next five minutes, terribly staged mummies, fake buzzsaws, and witches popped out of the hallway to no avail. At one point, Ren simply kept moving past the 'scare' instead of walking, dismissing it at first sight. He couldn't help but smirk at what Yang's reaction to each of these attempts must be, not wanting to look back lest he come face to face with a scroll recording again.

 _She must be sorely disappointed,_ he mused to himself.

The system itself had proven itself to be rather sizable. While from the outside, the haunted hallways looked like they would require but a minute to clear. In reality, twists and turns make the most out of the space given, and keep the hallway going in a slithering fashion. They did not run into any other people on their way, which was to be expected, and they had 'escaped' the hallway with little fuss, Yang silently frowning at her failure while Ren resisted the urge to look back and savor the expression on her face. The exit was lit by a sign, and they stepped out into the light, blindingly bright contrasted to the dark, night-time atmosphere that they were just in.

The same, dull woman came up to them, and handed them a certificate good for one free ride on the Ferris wheel. "Good job. Take it."

Walking off, Yang and Ren just looked at the tickets.

"Jeez, not only is she dull, but she's got attitude too."

"Perhaps it's just not her day, today."

"None of our business anyway. So, what'dya think of the spooky hallway?"

"You know very well how much I cared about that, Yang. I'm afraid you've lost this battle."

"Ah, ah, ah! But I still have a war to win! And the day's not over, buddy..."

"I'm well aware of that. However, consider the following. I am not afraid of heights, nor am I afraid of horror elements. What else would you be able to scare or startle me with?"

She rose an eyebrow and smirked. "Are you actually challenging me to find something to scare you with?"

"I do believe that was your original goal... so, no?"

"Alright, Ren. Then you're gonna make me pull out the big guns." She punched her hands together, cracking each hand's knuckles, battle stance reminiscent of when he first caught a glance of her capabilities at Initiation.

However, he didn't let this faze him. Stoic and calm got him through thick and stormy before... it would do it again. "So be it."

* * *

Sun and Neptune were the best of bros.

The bro-est bros of the bros.

Bro-iest bro-ing that a bro could find in a bro.

But a bro was missing another bro today.

And bro wasn't happy.

"Nep? Where are you, bud?" Wandering the hallways of Haven was strange alone, as he always had at least one team member with him at all times, offering company, jokes, and teases galore. But Scarlet was in Sun's native land of Vacuo, and Sage was gone visiting family in Vale for the long weekend that Shade was offering. All that was left was Neptune, and now he couldn't find him.

"I swear to Oum, Nep, if you ran off with another girl I'm gonna pummel you so hard," he muttered under his breath. Other than being the bro-iest bro-bro of all time to Sun, Neptune was known as a womanizer, his demeanor and appearance nearly radiating cool. Sun knew this from being his wingman at countless bars that they shouldn't been in at the time, or concerts that Sun _might_ have stolen the tickets for.

 _It's not like they needed the tickets anyway, they were wasted already,_ he thought to himself.

Sadly, this meant also that he knew his best friend's capabilities. He fell head over heels very quickly, and more often than not he thought he was infallible. Charm didn't always work for the blue-haired goggled teen, and more than once he had come home rejected, with things other than his pride battered and broken. Asides from enduring the teases of his teammates though, he was a good person. He occasionally knew when he was out of his league, and if he were to choose between a babe and his teammates...

Well, Sun was _pretty_ sure he would pick him and his teammates.

Shaking his head off of the doubts, he kept looking. "I leave you alone for five minutes dude! Come on, this isn't funny man!"

 _All you had to do was stand by the main gate and_ not _wander off without me. It's like I'm your babysitter,_ he thought. Naturally, he attempted to use his faunus senses, and found that Neptune's smell - a harsh mix of cologne that he went through faster than water in a Vacuan desert - was leading _indoors_. After walking back towards their academy, he had trailed his slowly fading scent through the cafeteria, bathroom, and dorm. After exiting their four-man home, he lost the scent and went the way that the scent had trailed off at, that being the many hallways of Haven Academy.

"Echo!" He shouted, and the hallway shouted back at him, voice resonating in the high ceiling hallways. "Nep, come on!"

* * *

Where Neptune Vasilias was not a place where he could hear his best friend.

Mentally, at least.

He was already outside again, mind and eyes glazed over as he just... went wherever, dude. As far as he could tell, everything was just... the definition of psychedelic. The lush, green trees and bushes of the temperate climate in Mistral were replaced with multiple images of everything from booze to girls, and even though he didn't realize it, if someone were to see him at that very moment, he would never live it down.

He was literally pulling branches from a leafy bush and putting them in his mouth.

Of course, he didn't see it as a bush. He just saw it as a platter of appetizing snacks that ranged from multi-colored cookies to little balls of green stuff that he didn't know the name of; but hell, they tasted great!

By the time he was done with his 'snack platter,' he walked away, bush thoroughly destroyed and mouth covered in leaves.

* * *

It took Sun thirty more minutes to finally give up. Throwing his hands up at the empty air, he shouted, exasperated. "NEPTUNE! COME ON! I'M TIRED OF LOOKING FOR YOU!" At this rate, the monkey faunus was actually getting concerned. While it's not the fact that he didn't trust Neptune alone for long periods of time...

 _Alright, I'm just lying to myself. I'm f'ing panicking about him being alone on his own,_ he thought. Among other things like charm, ego, and a small nerdy side, he wasn't the brightest of the bunch when it came to making logical decisions. Their team never let him out of their sights after he 'accidentally' blew up their campfire because thought that his laser gun could start a fire while they were all collecting tinder and twigs during a mission.

Sighing, he looked outside to calm himself down, collect his thoughts.

He was greeted by an image of Neptune licking a pillar. Eyes opening wide, he ran to an exit and bursted through, Neptune standing still as the monkey prince called out his name.

* * *

 _Holy crap, this ice cream tastes sooooo goood..._

As Sun Wukong was chasing after his stationary friend, Neptune was still in dreamland. The cobblestone pillar that he had taken a sudden interest in was, in his eyes, a delicious roasted strawberry sundae. He didn't even know how he was eating it; whenever he licked the ice cream, the flavor just rushed into his mouth, and he just kept licking the pillar.

He was already there for five minutes before his partner had found him, and now that he reached his partner, he shook him like crazy.

"DUDE, WHERE WERE YO- Nep?" Sun backed up slightly as Neptune just looked at his partner lazily, eyes relaxed and neck muscles not moving an inch as his head lolled. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

"Hey Shhhhun. Hhhow arrrre you?" His words came out in a near-incohesive bundle, words slurred together. Sun was about to accuse him of getting drunk (and worst of all without him), but when he smelled his breath, it still smelled like Neptune. Mint breath fresheners, mostly, emanated from his mouth-hole.

"Nep, what'd you do? Why are you acting like this?"

"Hhhhey Shun, you should try shum of dish... ice creeeeam..." He turned back to the pillar and hugged it, opening his mouth before Sun pulled him away and slapped him on the face.

"DUDE! Snap out of it! That's not ice-cream, and my name isn't 'Shun'!" _I've gotta get him some help,_ Sun thought to himself. Shaking his head, he spoke again. "Alright Nep, looks like Sunny's gonna have to get you outta here."

"Shunny? Whozzat?"

He rolled his eyes. "Your best friend who's getting your ass outta here."

Neptune flailed up an arm and barely landed it on Sun, who just looked at him strange as the words came out of the suave teen's mouth. "Thhhanks Shunny. I'll have to tell Shun about you."

Taking his arm over his shoulders, Sun started to guide Neptune back inside towards the infirmary. "Yeah, sure you will, bud. Sure you will."

* * *

 **A bit of Sunflower, and a bit of Sea Monkeys friendship. (if you consider Neptune making poor life decisions and having Sun bail him out of his rut a friendshippy type of thing.)**

 **I wish I could just stay here forever and write friendshippy fluff forever, especially between those two dorks from SSSN, but I've got homework to do.**

 **Have a nice day, everyone!**


	13. Out on the Town: Yang P 4

**Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to another episode of, Ren's... DARE!**

 ***crickets***

 **Today, we have Nora being... Nora, and Sunflower doing random stuff! Like eating!**

 **Yeah! So stay tuned, and read on my dear audience, because it's time to begin!**

* * *

 **Yang's Arc P. 4: Out on the Town**

He looked down to check his scroll. "It's twelve, Yang."

"Huh, time flies I guess."

"Was that a pun about one of our previous rides?"

"Nope. But thanks for telling me!"

He mentally face-palmed again. _I really must stop doing that,_ thinking to himself about the mistake he just made.

The park grounds were roaring with activity now, screams and shouts galore from every direction. Crowds surged in for the afternoon rush, and lines got so long to the point where Yang had just temporarily- she made sure to put emphasis on that word- given up on trying to force Ren onto another ride, leading them back around to the food courts.

"So, what're you in the mood for? Candy? Or more candy?" She picked up a piece of crystallized 'sugar' dust , turned it over in her hand, and tossed it back into the bin.

He made a wide, sweeping gesture with his open hand at the lines of supposed 'food' stalls. "Is sugar all they offer here?"

"Well, they've got flavoured sugar if that's more up your alley." They were perusing the aisles upon aisles of stalls lined up just for the afternoon rush, and none of the options were proving themselves to be particularly healthy nor delectable in Ren's eyes. "Watermelon, grape, apple, grapple..."

All he saw was multicolored sugar in front of him, food coloring and saccharose galore. To no surprise, his stomach didn't even growl once at the sight of the treats. "I think that an actual meal would be, 'up my alley,' Yang. All of this seems like things Nora would eat."

"Well, we can always get outta here. Our tickets let us come and go, so…" She trailed off as Ren spoke.

"Would you have ideas for a venue? Or would we wander aimlessly as we have been."

"Probably do a little of the last one you said." He raised an eyebrow at Yang, making her tilt and bring her head back in exasperation. "Okay, maybe we'd just wander a lot."

He shook his head, the prospect of just… wandering still not quite as appealing. "Yang, I would much rather know where I'm going before I walk. Especially in an open environment."

"Okay… we're going… outside!" She gave him two thumbs up, and he just shook his head.

"Not what I meant, Yang."

"Aw, come on, Ren! Get a sense of humor! You're reminding me of Blake too much!"

"The same could be said for you with my own partner."

A moment of silence passed before Yang started chuckling, Ren looking at her curiously. Waving a hand to show that she was okay, she spoke.

"I was just wondering what it'd be like if Nora and Blake were to spend a day together. They're, like, the two _last_ people I would think I'd see together anywhere."

Ren entertained the thought as well, and found it difficult to even think of how either would end up in their respective situation. _Unless a certain someone gets dared at a fated late-night game,_ he thought to himself. _Hm..._

"Perhaps my partner would drag her outside? Nora is rather active."

"Blakey wouldn't budge. She's always nose deep in her books and stuff, like you."

"... Thank you?"

"If you wanna take that as a compliment, go for it." Another pause. "Heh... but I bet you don't read the stuff that she does, though."

"Should I ask?"

"If you _really_ wanna know." They made eye contact, and Yang winked.

He broke eye contact, blinking a few times. _That probably means no,_ Ren thought.

"I'll refrain from doing so. How else would they end up together then?"

"Ooo, are we doing scenarios now? Sounds neat."

"It's to distract me from the lack of food in my stomach."

"Oh, get over it flower-boy." He got out a short, 'ahp,' of protest before Yang kept talking. "I'll start, though. It'd have to be something important enough to get Blake outta bed… maybe the promise of fish?"

"Are you really playing on her faunus mentality?"

Yang just shrugged with arms bent and palms up. "Don't fix it if it ain't broken, right?"

He sighed. "Mmm."

"Maybe Nora would take us on some fishing trip, and… we'd all ditch, or something?"

"And what would we remaining six be doing?"

"Dunno. Dancing? Clubbin'?" She nudged him with an elbow and a raise of her eyebrow. "Partying?"

 _Maybe, no, and never again._ "Those all seem like things that you would do, Yang."

"It's 'cause they are!" She smirked, and Ren just shook his head at the nonchalant honesty that she carried. "So when they finally got to the fishing spot, they'll be like,"

He put an arm in front of Yang, his feet planted. "Stop."

Looking down at the arm across her collarbone, she looked at Ren. "Uh… not what I was going for. But su-"

"No, Yang." She looked at him, and he rose a very, very shaky finger; shaky wasn't part of Ren's demeanor, and Yang looked at he was pointing at.

One orangette.

Of course, reflexes kicked in, and Yang shouted.

"HEY N-MMMMPH!" She was about to call out Nora's name before Ren clapped his hand over her mouth, promptly interrupting the blonde. Looking around frantically while still clamping his hand over the blonde's mouth, he pulled her towards an unmanned stall, pushing her onto it as they hid behind the wooden frame. Yang pried off the hand after getting over that initial moment of shock, eyes skeptical.

"Ren, didn't know you wanted to escalate things so quickly," she said jokingly. "But seriously, what the heck was that about?" She shrugged out of his grip, which he let lax as he spoke.

"If Nora were to see me here…" He trailed off, and peeked over again. Luckily, it doesn't seem as if she noticed anything out of the ordinary; she was still harassing some poor stall-keeper about cotton candy before he looked back and relinquished his grip fully. "My apologies."

"Yeah, yeah. But why're you so scared?"

"For years I have gotten acquainted with Nora's patterns, her reactions, what she'll say in a situation." He stopped to peek over again before looking back at Yang. She noticed that instead of the calm, stoic demeanor that he was so respected for in the first-year class, it was replaced with darting eyes and nervous ticks.

"Okay?... Dude, where're you going with this?"

"I fear the unknown, Yang. And this situation, if I were to be seen with you, classifies itself in the 'unknown' reaction category."

She sighed and rolled her eyes and head. "Oh, come on. How bad can it be?" She started to walk off before Ren grabbed her shoulder with surprising force, planting her back on the board. Looking around and laughing awkwardly, she said in a quieter voice. "Uh, Ren? You're attractin' some attention to us…"

"I can't let you do that," he said, apparently ignoring the last bit of what she said. He also didn't seem to notice the strange glances that people were giving them, Yang noticing some parents covering their children's eyes as they walked along to give them a death glance. "As far as I know, she sees you as a possible threat, and I don't know what will happen to either of us if I'm seen during my… hiatus from the dorm room."

"You mean your dare."

"Yes, my dare."

"Okay, can you let go, now?" He did, and she brushed off some dust from the back of her shoulders. "So, since you're apparently terrified of Ms. Pancakes, what now?"

"..."

"... Planet Remnant to Lie Ren? Hello? Does anyone copy?"

 _I'm going to regret this._

"You were saying something about going outside for lunch?"

The grin that Yang put on, near devilish, only confirmed Ren's assumptions.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, with Nora...**

"So, so, so so so so... you're outta candy, huh?" The man opened his mouth to speak, but Nora interrupted him. "Well I don't believe you! So what's your excuse?"

"You literally just ate all of it, you crazy bi-"

"WOAH! Language! You're gonna have to watch it, unless you want me to call in my best friend."

"Best... friend?"

She unhooked Magnhild from it's place on the back of her hip, unfolding the handles and transforming it into the mighty warhammer that's seen many a Grimm. She hoisted it into the air, everyone around her instantly backing up at the sight of the deadly weapon.

"My best bud. You wanna say hi? She _loves_ making new friends."

"Okay, okay, okay! Lady, I swear, I don't have anything left, okay!? Look around you, you're freakin' surrounded by stalls of candy! Please, just go... terrorize one of them or something!" She looked around her, not noticing a pair of green and yellow dash behind her in any direction that wasn't the orangette.

"Huh. I guess there is. Kay, thanks!" She gave such a wide grin that made her eyes shut close, put Magnhild back in its place behind her hip, and skipped across the stall. Without even speaking another word, she just started to eat the candy, and the cycle repeated.

* * *

 **Back to Sunflower...**

"Yang?"

"'Sup?"

"When I asked for an actual meal, I was hoping we would be able to reach our destination in a more... timely fashion."

"Aw, come on. You can go without for like, ten more minutes right?"

His stomach growled as if it were on cue, making Yang look at the lotus warrior to see him twitch an eye. "Perhaps that gives you your answer."

"Well, you wouldn't settle for sugar, so you'll have to settle for waiting too."

"I hardly think that's fair."

"Sucks to suck."

He sighed and just kept walking, flamboyant blonde at his side still walking as if she didn't have a care in the world. "Do you even maintain a schedule on a daily basis?"

A warm breeze blew through the air, heated by the sun that was now proud in the sky. "Eh. I sleep, wake up, do stuff, repeat." He looked at her with a deadpan gaze. She just shrugged with her shoulders and a small shake of her head. "What?"

He just sighed and looked towards the windows that were displaying several mannequins and toys, eye candy for the passerby. "Nothing."

"Ya'know, you and Weiss are similar." She looked at him, but his eyes were still glued to anything that wasn't Yang. "Obsessed with being tidy and on time, blah blah."

He looked over at the blonde with a raised eyebrow. "Because making things orderly makes for an easier life, Yang. She understands."

"But you don't get bored of having everything so... clean?" He gave her a pointed look that conveyed his answer. "Okay, I knew the answer to that one."

"Mmm."

"But come on! It's that routine that makes you guys so grumpy all the time!"

Ren rose an eyebrow at the word. "I would hardly call myself grumpy."

"Okay, yeah, maybe that one only applied to Weiss." He looked at her again, and lilac rolled. "Okay, so it's just Weiss. I know you're not a grumpy dude, dude."

Ignoring the repeated use of dude as his rapidly-changing nicknames for the day, he stopped and gestured towards a small cafe. From the window, Ren could already see small bowls of noodles and laidback customers drinking coffee and tea, his stomach rumbling in desire. "Can we stop now?"

"Aw, but I was just getting started!"

"That's why I asked if we could stop."

She put on a fake wince. "Ouch. Maybe you are grumpy, flower-boy."

He didn't even bother rolling his eyes or shaking his head as he walked forward and went into the cafe. His senses were greeted with the familiar aura of a relaxed environment, mind flashing back to the many trips he spent here with his team for anything from study trips to days out on the town. Eyes were met with the sight of people sitting back in their chairs, clacking away on their keyboards on scrolls, laughing with friends, or simply sitting alone to enjoy the atmosphere. Ears were met with the raucous laughter of several people who valued friendship, the quiet chattering of those looking at a book together, and the oh-so familiar noise of tea and coffee machines hissing in the background that were busy making the life-fuel for many in this room.

Taking a deep breath in, the air full of coffee and mediocre food that Ren would have to settle for, he let it out as he felt someone bump his arm.

"Yo, Ren. You okay there?"

"Savoring the air."

"... Right. Well, I'm gonna go get us a seat. Thanks!" She winked and walked off, swaying her hips as always and eliciting several men's gaze to be focused on her as Ren just twitched an eye at the realization that she was ditching him so that he could pay.

Again.

Shaking his head, he walked over and got in line for the register, looking up at the menu that was displayed on the large overhead monitors. Other than noodles, several small sandwiches were being offered for a reasonable price, as well as ridiculously overpriced cookies and a cake that cost a small fortune.

 _Who on Remnant would pay 20 Lien for a slice of strawberry cream cake?_ He questioned himself, and was only more surprised when he saw someone walk past him with a whole cake, net worth at approximately... a lot of Lien.

After the next orders were taken, he settled for a simple meal for the two of them, all while saving his wallet of lien from suffering crippling hunger. Stepping forward, the man at the counter gave a warm smile.

"How may I help you, ma'am?"

Ren already had his mouth open to say his order of two sandwiches, but closed it after the last word the man said. He blinked a few times. And rose an eyebrow.

"Did you just... call me ma'am?" He involuntarily brought his voice down a bit lower than usual, not noticing it as his disapproving gaze bore into the cashier.

The man's eyes flared up wide and his jaw dropped. "Oh, oh, oh shoot, I'm sorry!" He ran a hand through his hair while mumbling something about that being the second time today. "I thought you were a... Oh, jeez. Here, uh," he grabbed a pair of tongs, "would you like a free cookie?"

 _It really wasn't that big of a deal, but..._ "Sure." He pointed towards a sugar cookie, something that should sate Yang if she didn't like the sandwich, and the man grabbed a small bag to put it in.

"Okay, sorry, _sir._ May I take your order?"

"One egg salad and one turkey-avocado sandwich," the man clacked a few keys and it appeared on a screen in front of Ren, "along with chamomile and a black coffee."

"Coming right up, sir. And again, sorry for the inconvenience." Ren just nodded his head slightly as he paid the total noted on the machine in front of him. The man gave him the bag and a small beeper to notify him when his order was finished, and Ren grabbed two water cups before making his way out of the line. Finding Yang in the set-up of tables wasn't that difficult; that mane of blonde hair that she carried around with her couldn't be matched by anyone else.

She was still engrossed on a game on her scroll- a fighting game from the looks of it- when Ren pulled his chair back, making a screeching noise that made her look up, then at the bag. She paused the game and gave a wide grin.

"Oh, Ren! Don't tell me you got a goodie just for me!" He just gestured the bag forward, and she opened it to reveal a small sugar cookie. "Daw. Never knew you had a heart in there, flower-boy."

He rose an eyebrow. "Still going with my nick-names?"

"Yep." She bit into the cookie as an excuse to stop talking, and the beeper lit up with a loud, repeating drone that informed them that their order was ready already. Ren just narrowed his eyes as if to say that Yang was lucking out for now, and stood up to retrieve his order. Finishing the cookie already, she dusted her hands off to the side of the table and kept playing the same game on her scroll.

Ren got to the designated area for the retrieval of orders, and a woman came up to him hurriedly with his order, a small note attached to a brown that contained the receipt and a coupon for twenty percent off his next purchase along with a small plastic tray with the two drinks.

 _If I get called ma'am again, I just might try to get my whole meal for free,_ he thought to himself with a bit of mirth as he nodded a thank you and took the items in each hand. Weaving his way through the small line that seemed to always be there, he made his way back to the table to see Yang playing that same game. He set down the tray first, and Yang looked up with another grin.

"Thank you, waiter!" She said in a sing-song voice, tilting her head left and right slightly as she did so.

Ren ignored the pun and set down the rest of the items, taking out the two sandwiches and setting them in front of each other. She took her coffee and held it in her hand, taking a sip immediately without even waiting for it to cool as Ren just looked at her as if she had three heads, hand still in the bag.

"How?..." He trailed off as she looked up from her sandwich.

"Semblance." She took another sip. "Lets me take the heat in more than one way. Comes in handy for stuff like this."

"Hm. I see." Unlike Yang, he set his tea to the side to cool for a minute or two when he got to the table, and he continued to gra-

 _Wait. Continued to grab?_

At the bottom of the bag was something fairly cold, and he took it out to reveal a small piece of strawberry cream cake. Baffled by the discovery, he looked back to the register to try and find the man who had taken his order. The man was apparently already looking over at his direction, and when he made eye contact he just gave him a small thumbs up. Ren nodded back to him, and when his gaze returned to what was in front of him, the cake was gone.

"Wow, Ren! You really know how to spoil a girl..." She had already taken the cake and opened the small, see through box, small plastic fork already pecking away at it. "No wonder you and Nora are such good friends!"

All he could get out was a small, 'uh,' as she finished the small slice in the next few seconds. "No... problem."

She wiped her mouth with her hand, which Ren suppressed a wince at since there were napkins _right in front of her_ , and looked at him. "Are you gonna eat standing up?"

He promptly took a seat as Yang put the box back into the bag, an act of cleanliness that surprised for just a moment before she opened up her sandwich box and started to voraciously chomp on it, dispelling any thought that he had of neat and tidiness as bits of avocado went on the table without a second thought. He subtly put a napkin closer to Yang to intercept some of the crumbs, and opened his as well. Yang looked up from her victim of a sandwich, and grimaced.

"Oum, what is that Ren?"

"It's an egg salad sandwich," he answered nonchalantly. Grabbing a napkin, he put it neatly on his lap as he took the sandwich and bit in, much to Yang's disgust.

"Dude, how do you _eat_ that? You're putting a salad _in_ your sandwich!"

He made sure to chew and swallow before speaking, something that his partner for the day or his actual partner didn't do. "I consider it quite appetizing." He sipped his now cooled down tea, sweetness coming through.

She shook her head and kept at her own sandwich, already three quarters of the way finished as Ren took another bite of his sandwich.

 _What's wrong with my sandwich?_ He looked down at it. _It's perfectly edible. Nora and Jaune had the same reactions as Yang when I first ordered it... Hm._ _I'll have to ask Pyrrha. She seemed to be okay with it_. He took another contemplative bite, but his train of thought was knocked loose by a loud burp emitted from across the table.

"'Scuze me," Yang said with a fist over her mouth. Ren just sighed and kept at his small sandwich, Yang taking to throwing the box into the bag from which it came and playing on her scroll as she waited for Ren to finish. "Oh, thanks for the meal by the way. Appreciated it."

Ren nodded as he put down his cup after another sip. "Not a problem." _Ignoring the fact that my wallet feels much skinnier, no problem,_ he said to himself.

"Yaknow, since you've been so nice today, Ren, I think I'll treat cha' to something for dinner tonight." She grinned, and Ren stopped chewed his sandwich with narrowed eyes and a tilted head. "No, it's not sugar." He didn't lose eye contact. "And yeah, yeah, I'll pay." Satisfied with the answer, he kept chewing and listening. "Just a fast-food joint, a noodle stand to be more specific for you."

He finished his cup of tea, and the sandwich came quickly after. Tossing the wrapper and a napkin that contained his sandwich into the bag and crumpling the top to close it, he nodded an agreement, the last bits of his sandwich in his stomach. "Alright."

"Sweet!"

"But... isn't the rest of your team coming back tonight? I think we should have an early dinner."

"Nah, don't worry about that." She literally waved it off. "They're not back until ten or so." She grinned. "You're not gettin' out that easily, Ren."

"Shucks," he said half-heartedly. Standing up smoothly and straightening out his tunic, he took out a two lien card and placed it on the table, Yang stretching as she stood up.

"Alllright. We're all fed now, so that means that, lucky for you, we can't go straight back to the amusement park. That means that we're gonna be walkin' some more, so get ready."

"I'm ready." Leaving the cups and tray behind, he threw the bag of empty sandwich and cake containers away into the bin, and made his way to the exit, savoring the smells of coffee and tea for the last time that day.

* * *

 **Some notes for this chapter: I'm not really sure if Magnhild has a compact storage mode like other weapons, (crescent rose, ember celica) so I just went scarce with it and made up some folding shiznit on the spot.**

 **Also, I remember reading a fic where Ren just said, 'shucks,' to when he was about to get knocked out by Yang during a spar, and I could never get that out of my head. I hope it didn't come off as OOC, but I can imagine him saying that in his normal tired voice. Just... shucks.**

 **School's starting up in a few days for me, so I hope to pump out another chapter before I hit that major roadblock. Maybe a short chapter with Nora if worse leads to worse.**

 **Lastly, thank you for the support on other stories if you're a person who reads all of mine. I see you guys. I see you.**

 **Much love, much love~**


	14. Shoppin!: Yang P 5

**Howdy everyone!**

 **... jeez, okay, howdy doesn't work for me. Let me try that again.**

 **Salutations! Welcome to yet another episode of Ren's Sufferi-**

 **I mean Ren's Dare! If it hasn't for you guys already (if you're done with it then lucky, lucky you), school's startin' up soon, so that's something.**

 **I would like to thank all of you for your support thus far, as this has been/is my first foray into the unknown territory of writing. Your comments mean the world to me, and I try to take every moment I can to improve my skills and write better tortur-**

 **\- I mean, uh, funny moments for Ren.**

 **So, without further ado, let's start the water-boarding!**

 **... I mean, shopping scene. Shopping scene.**

 **;^)**

* * *

She stretched as they exited the cafe with arms raised and a yawn, pretending not to notice a man tripping over himself across the street as he saw the buxom view. Grinning at the oh-so familiar sight of citizens wallowing in her appearance, she looked over at Ren and she nudged him on the arm with her elbow.

"Alright Ren. Left or right?"

His eyes were on the man who had just fallen over, and the civilian dusted himself off before stealing another glance.

After making sure that the citizen didn't break anything during his staring, he pivoted his head twice. To his left were stores and the road that led to the amusement park; to his right were more stores but no amusement park. It wasn't a very hard choice; he was a stout defender of common sense.

"Right," he said with the opening of his right hand in said direction.

Yang put a her hand in a check mark to her chin. After a moment of 'deliberation,' she spoke with a tilt of her head in the opposite direction. "Eh, I wanna go left."

He suppressed an eye twitch. "Why did you ask me if we were just going left from the start?"

"It's fun toyin' around with you, flower boy." She started walking to the left from the exit of the cafe, Ren begrudgingly moving his feet to follow. "'Sides, I've had Rubes for most of my life so there's not much more I can do with her. Weiss' too easy to mess with, and Blake's Blake. So, it's nice to get someone new."

"Are you saying that everything you've done today is to... 'toy' with me?"

"Of course not! I'm just havin' fun... can't a girl have fun, Ren?"

"If they find pleasure off of someone else's discomfort, then no."

"But you're having fun, right?"

He just made a small noise, a neutral mmph, knowing that no matter what he said, the blonde would do what she wanted to.

"I knew you would see things my way!" She grinned, but Ren just kept walking, eyes glued to the other side of the street as to not let her get the satisfaction of seeing his eyes conceding as he gave a small exhale.

 _Just keep walking, Ren. You'll get through this. You always do. Weather the storm._

Thirty seconds more of silence passed, and Ren actually felt a slight glimmer of hope begin to glow in his heart. Perhaps he could finally get some silence... some peace.

But such nice things weren't to last for him, and Yang piped up soon enough.

"Ooo! This looks nice!" He looked over by reflex, and saw that they were in front of an Emilie's, the largest clothing brand in Vale. In the blink of an eye, he remembered all of the days he'd spent here, days he'd wasted forced to peruse those fated aisles. "C'mon Ren!"

Yang grabbed his hand and whisked him inside, pulling with the strength of Nora pulling on the last bottle of syrup at the supermarket. He disappeared from the street in a plume of dust, the door rattling as he thought again.

 _Why, Oum._

Of course, shopping wasn't anything new to the green-clad martial artist; Nora made sure of that. The rambunctious orangette loved each and every opportunity that Ren gave her to go out on the town with him due to his reluctance to do... energetic things overall, and made him become accustomed to all day- or all weekend at one point- shopping trips that he had to partake in.

 _I did develop rather useful skills, however. I can now carry surprisingly more items than the average man by clenching the bags between my teeth._

Now that he thought about it, it really wasn't that cool.

He narrowed his eyes slightly at the realization before Yang's energetic voice popped him out of his wallowing.

"Alright, so first things first, we're getting _you,_ " she poked him on the chest, "a new outfit. Something other than..." She waved her hands a few times at his person. "Pink."

"Yang..." He let a tired voice out.

"Don't 'cha wanna try new things though? It'd be fun! I think you'd look good with a grey jacket... brown?" She started sizing him up, looking at him up and down as if she were judging his appearance.

Shaking his head, he tried a more diplomatic approach. "I appreciate the efforts, but I really would much rather stay with my current color scheme. Perhaps you could look at your outfits? It is your day after all."

She gave him a pointed look, raising an eyebrow and moving her hips to the side a bit as she placed a hand on them. "Are you sayin' there's something wrong with how I dress?"

He remained unfazed, the show not flustering him as it would many other men. "No, I'm simply saying that I don't I need any new clothing."

"Well, that's what _you_ think. You're gonna get a new getup today, Ren."

"... Is there really any point in me contesting this argument?"

"No, not really." She said it in the most nonchalant way, picking at a small blouse and checking the price tag as intonation rose and fell.

Ren sighed for what must've been the thousandth time. "Really, I insist, Yang."

"I insist too, flower-boy. I really think you'd look good in a jacket instead of that same ol' tunic of yours." She muttered to herself. "Grey... yeah, I think that'd work for you. Or maybe?..."

"Is there something wrong with the clothing I've chosen?"

"Well, lemme ask you a question." A smirk rose. "Do you ever get called a woman by people?"

Ren blinked a few times, but remained silent.

 _She didn't hear me at the cafe, did she?_

Yang, although she didn't, had already gotten the answer she needed from the blinks and silence.

"Exactly. We're gonna get you something that doesn't make you look so much like hunt- _ress_ Lie Ren, and more like hun- _ter_ Lie Ren."

After a few more seconds of walking and stopping for Yang to look and comment to herself on outfits, Ren conceded. "Alright."

"Sweet! Alright, come with me flower-boy."

"Please stop calling me that."

She popped the 'p'. "Nope!"

* * *

The first outfit was atrocious, and both of them knew it.

Right when Yang picked it out and held it in front of Ren to show him, she was still busy laughing her butt off at the pure yellow track suit, skin tight and blaringly different compared to Ren's color scheme of gentler greens and less eye-popping pinks. It didn't take a fashion expert to tell that the outfit was complete garbage for Ren, and Yang eventually put it away after she was done wiping away her tears of laughter.

"Oh, dude, could you imagine yourself in that thing? Pfthah..."

"To be honest, I actually can't visualize myself in that..." He took another look at the now hung-up suit. "Atrocity."

"Ooo, big words. You're sounding just like Weiss right now!" She made a small gasp. "How would you look with white?"

"I'd rather not wear an all-white outfit, Yang."

"And why's that?"

"From where I come from, wearing an overabundance of white is usually frowned upon. The color white signifies death."

She blinked a few times. "Oh, sorry. Okay, we'll skip that." Just as Ren was going to comment on her change in behavior, she popped right back into her 'fiery' Yang mode. "So why do you wear long white pants?"

He shrugged. "As long as you are not completely covered in the color, it's alright to wear."

"Oh. 's I gotta get you some different pants then..." She made a thinking pose, and Ren just stood there awkwardly before she snapped her fingers and lit up. "How about _neon_ green?"

It was gonna be a long afternoon.

* * *

"How 'bout this one?" She held up a collared, button up shirt with repeating patches of lighter green and darker green. Both shades were slightly darker than his shade that he usually donned, and the wrists were a slightly faded white.

 _A simple design,_ he thought to himself. _Definitely much better than that neon green hat she picked out for me..._

Ren had to admit, it didn't look _that_ bad. "Hm," was the only noise that he made, and it was enough for Yang.

"That's not a no, so I'm taking that as a yes or better. Here, hold this." She threw the shirt at Ren, who caught it in one hand before it reached his face, reflexes proving themselves to be useful outside of the battlefield as well.

* * *

"Yay? Nay?" She held up another one after they had migrated a bit from their current spot, Ren looking up from his scroll after checking the time; it was one thirty.

She was holding up a tie with black and green stripes going down diagonally.

He rose an eyebrow. "What would I need a tie for?"

"For the next dance! Don't you wanna look good for Nora?" She said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and to Ren's surprise, didn't add any salacious gestures of the eyebrow or hands.

He tilted his head, asking himself both about Nora and her behavior before he spoke. "Uh. We're not toge-"

"Yeah, yeah, not together-together, I've heard it before," interrupting him without batting an eye, but waving a hand. "Yes or no?" She gestured the tie towards him just to emphasize it.

He shrugged, it didn't look half bad. "Sure."

Anotha' one.

* * *

It was three thirty now and on top of the shirt and tie, were; a pair of grey pants with green stripes going down the outside that finished with a circle of green at the bottom, some black gloves (Yang said they made a man look sexier, Ren didn't believe her but was forced to carry them anyway), and a simple black tee that she said would help flesh out the color spectrum that they had.

Somehow, she was still putting a pep in her step although the only breaks they've taken were waiting on Ren to change into the outfits. Ren, on the other hand, was trying hard to keep up with Yang's seemingly endless energy when it came to dashing from aisle to aisle, suggesting clothing of all sorts that he was fairly sure she was asking just to make sure he wasn't asleep.

"Ooo, I think you'll like this one..." Ren, whose head was downcast at this point, looked up a bit, and rose his head a bit higher when he fully saw the piece of clothing. In her hands was a simple grey jacket with some red going down the sleeves in three stripes downwards along the arm, collared and simple enough to make him fully blend in as a citizen.

"It's awfully bland," voicing his thoughts.

"Would you rather look like a girl or look like a boring guy?" He blinked a few times. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."

"The colors are... not bad. Red symbolizes strength from where I come from."

"Oh, so why don't you wear more red?"

"It doesn't quite match with my complexion."

She rose an eyebrow. "Ren, I'm telling you this as a friend, alright? You can make red work as long as you're not slathered in it."

"Hm."

"Can you atleast try it on? I've just... got a hunch."

 _No harm to it,_ he thought. "So be it," he said as he grabbed the jacket and started walking towards the nearest dressing room before Yang called back at him.

"Dude, you can just put it on here." She gestured towards a mirror. "Unless you really feel like takin' your shirt off..."

"Yang, do you never tire of these jabs?"

"Nnnope."

He closed his eyes and exhaled a bit before putting on the jacket. It fit snugly even though Ren never gave her his exact measurements, as did all the other items that she had suggested from him.

 _Perhaps it's something that us men don't possess,_ he thought as he looked at himself in the mirror. He outstretched his arms, sleeves running a bit back on his arm as he looked at the image in front of him.

"Hm."

Yang walked up to his side. "See? Not bad, right? Just change the pants to some jeans and you'd look like a civvie!"

"I thought the goal of this trip was to make me look like a male, not a civilian."

"Yeah, but... when you go out on the town with your team, don't they usually change into something else?"

Ren thought about it. Jaune just took off his armor, Nora kept her same outfit, but Pyrrha usually did change into something more casual than her usual attire save for her circlet.

"Save for Nora, yes, they do shed some items of clothing."

"And it'd be a real shame if your tunic got dirty during a trip to... say... the ice cream parlor, right?"

"I could just wash i-"

"Exactly! Alright." She pulled the jacket off of Ren by the two sleeves and draped it over her bent arm. "So we're getting this." Checking the price tag on the end of the sleeve, she rose an eyebrow. "Nice."

* * *

"That'll be... 60 lien." The cashier looked up as he was fitting the folded green button-up into the bag, Ren still looking at the tallie on a screen in front of him.

"Remarkably cheaper that I thought it would be," he said with a slight incredulous tone in his voice.

"Never said I didn't know how to find a bargain, Ren. It'd be a crime if they made us pay full price for stuff like this, right..." She looked over at the cashier. "... Akiba?"

"Yes, you did find quite the bargain, you two." He said it without any tone of hostile intentions, but he did gesture with his hand palm up on the counter of the register.

Ren took out his wallet, but Yang stopped him with a hand on his arm that kept it in place. "I got this, flower boy."

He looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's the least I can do for your closet." She smirked and grabbed the unmoved one-hundred line card from her pocket. Handing it to the cashier, he opened the register and handed her change. Raising the bag over the counter, the man asked the age-old question.

"Receipt in the bag or with you?"

"I'll take it-"

"- In the bag, thanks."

Ren and Yang looked at each other.

"I want it-"

"In the bag."

He blinked a few times. She rose an eyebrow.

"I'll ta-"

"-ke it in the bag, thank you." She looked at the cashier, but he had already printed another one with a small chuckle emitted from his throat.

"You two are adorbs." Both pale pink and lilac went wide at the mention of them being a couple (with Ren getting some unpleasant flashbacks to yesterday) as they opened their mouths to speak before the man interrupted them. "Have a nice day!" He slipped one receipt in the bag while handing a speechless Ren the other. They both awkwardly nodded their thanks and walked away.

After a few seconds of walking, Yang spoke up.

"Do we _seriously_ look like a couple? I mean, look at you! You're thin as a twig!"

He rose an eyebrow. "You do realize that I am standing right here, Ya-"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. But I'm just saying, why would someone assume we're a couple?"

 _I had a similar conversation to this with her partner yesterday..._

"To be honest, we both qualify as good-looking people, Yang. It's not an illogical proposition for people to assume that we're a couple." She rose a mischievous smirk on her lips and Ren added on before she could speak. "No, Yang."

"Just a _little_ teasing, come on!"

Suddenly, an old, female, _elderly_ voice spoke up with a dramatic gasp.

 _Wait. Wait._

"You!"

 _... Oh Oum._ Ren couldn't believe his luck, but he had to confirm his suspicions.

Both Beacon trainees looked towards the woman, and Ren instantly froze up as his eyes went wide for the second time in the span of a few minutes. Yang looked over at him.

"Dude, what's up with you?"

"I can't believe you, you young rascal! How could you switch partners so easily? Was I correct about your affairs? Was it really something illicit?" She blew the questions out in a flurry- at least as fast as her dentures allowed her to at least- with wide eyes. The elderly woman then rose her cane and started slowly hobbling her way to the martial artist, stick slightly waving in the air as she made her way. "The gall!"

As she started to get closer, Ren started to back up slightly, Yang giving him a strange look before looking at the woman. "Excuse me, ma'am?" Grey hair turned to face a marvellous mane of blonde, and the old woman instantly dropped her cane back down to a walking position and went wide-eyed.

"Oh, my, what beautiful hair you have!"

Yang smiled at the compliment, and flipped it casually with a flick of her head. "Aw. Thanks! _Someone_ ," she looked pointedly at Ren, "didn't tell me that today."

Ren opened his mouth, ready to argue his point of contention. "Wh-"

"Oh, don't mind him, dear." She thwapped him on the leg, but didn't notice a small line of magenta aura block it as the cane returned to its place at her side. "But please don't tell me you two are together!"

Yang looked at Ren, who had his lips pursed and eyes wide as he slowly nodded in the negatory as he stood tall over the hunched-over old woman.

She had all the cards in her hand, and she could play them however she wanted...

It really was a good day for Yang.

Amazing.

 _Superb._

 _It's time to have some_ real _fun, flower-boy..._

She winked at him, making him give a tiny sigh in relief.

The next words, however, were not what he was expecting. "Yeah, he's my boyfriend!" Adding insult to Ren's already blistering injury, she walked over to Ren's side and latched onto his arm. She could feel him trying to pull away with bursts of strong tugs, but she was stronger by far when it came to pure strength compared to the martial artist.

The old woman shook his head. "Dearie, this young man has been cheating on you!"

Yang pretended to be shocked, pulling away from Ren's surprisingly serene face- save for the icy glare he was sending her way- and putting a hand over her mouth. "No way! Who?"

The woman gave Ren a harsh, baggy-eyed look as she spoke. "Some other girl dressed in black and white." Turning her attention to the blonde, she spoke in an apologetic tone. "I'm so sorry."

"Oh, it's okay. I'll... move on somehow." She grabbed Ren's arm again. "But _you_ , boyfriend, are coming with _me._ "

The old woman gladfully hobbled out of the way. "Teach him a lesson!" She waved her cane wildly above her.

"Thanks, ma'am. Let's go." She tugged at Ren's arm as if he were a doll, and immediately he was blown off of his feet and into the street, pulled by the human version of a raging bull.

She shook her head. "Oh... to be young..."

* * *

"PPPPPFFFFTTHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Yang was doubled over, hands planted on her knees as she let out the loudest snort-laughs that he'd ever heard from the blonde. People were milling about them, only sparing a small glance at the mane of gold that was shaking like crazy with each shuddering breath.

"Yang..."

"Oh, come on Ren!" A few more snickers escaped from her lips as she tried to calm down. "Come on, tell me that wasn't funny!"

"That wasn't funny."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes it was! She was all like, 'grr he was cheating on you!' Oh, it was _perfect!_ "

He looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Are you quite done?"

"No, I need to stay in the moment for just a bit more..."

Ren sighed as he picked up the bag that Yang barely got through the door before she started her fit of laughter. "I'm assuming you want an explanation."

She rose a finger. "Just wait. Still in the moment." A few more seconds of awkward standing passed, and she spoke up. "Yeah, so who was she?"

Ren motioned with his hand for them to stand in the alcove of the entrance where they wouldn't be getting on other people's way, and they walked a few steps. "Blake and I first met her on the airbus yesterday on the way to Lake Forrester."

"Really? Huh. What a coincidence then, meeting each other two days in a row!"

"I concur. The odds of that happening were... incredibly low."

She snorted one more time as she wiped a tear away. "Still pretty funny, though."

"May we never speak of this again?"

"Do what you want. I'm tellin' Rubes _all_ about this tonight. Oh, she'll love it..."

Once again, Ren conceded.

* * *

 **HOLY BAGOH-LY IT'S BEEN A MONTH SINCE I'VE POSTED THIS STORY! I forgot to get flowers for myself! Curses!**

 **Thank you all for your kind words, favs, and follows over this time! It makes me feel all gooey on the inside. Or maybe that's just blood.**

 **... probably just blood.**

 **Also, the old woman makes her return! Don't worry, I won't use her as a cheesy plot device in _every_ arc, but I thought it wasn't impossible to add her logically into the story, so... hey!**

 **Lastly, I'm afraid this will be my last update... for about a week. Maybe more. School does that to you, man. So again, thanks for sticking with me until this point, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**

* * *

Omakeeeeeee!: (this is so cringe, i don't know why I made this.)

"So, Ren."

It was a dark room. The only source of illuminating light came from a blinking red light in front of him, reminding him of a recording camera. The same, garbled voice kept their spiel going.

"I see that you're hanging out with Yang more."

He struggled against the bonds of his chair, but they wouldn't give. The chair rattled against the bolted down parts, reinforced by strong metals.

"Who are you?"

The voice audibly gasped. "You don't remember me?"

"Remember?" He repeated the word, thinking hard.

"We had so much _fun_ yesterday, though..."

A noise. Clicking heels made their way closer and closer, one step at a time. Ren attempted to triangulate the position, but the darkness clouded his senses. A cold- no, ice-cold- hand planted itself on his chest, and the same voice whispered to him, ungarbled.

"Don't you remember me?"

His head reared. "Blake?"

Before she could respond, a door on his right was bashed in, and it revealed the sight of Nora in... a superhero costume?

... Yep. Spandex an' all.

"GIVE ME MY PARTNER, FOUL VILLAIN!" She pointed a righteous finger at the cat-faunus.

The shadow- A.K.A Blake Belladonna, reared back at the sudden light that entered the room, and Ren had to shut his eyes at the brightness.

"Never! He's mine!"

"NO HE'S NOT!"

"YES HE IS!"

Both teenagers leapt at each other, and the fight devolved into a cluster of tangled limbs and a huge dust cloud that Ren couldn't see through. While those two were fighting, Yang poked her head in from the side, and Ren looked at her.

"Yang! Get me out of here!"

She narrowed her eyes, but they didn't hide any promise of threat. She began walking her way inside, ignoring the cat-fight to her right, and trailed her way to the chair where Ren was chained down.

"Ren?"

"I believe that there are chains holding me down here, and here." He motioned with his hands and head as best he could. "If you could use Ember Celica t-... Yang?"

"Wow, Ren... looks like you've got some girls fighting over you..."

"That is beside the point, Yang! Use-"

"Shhhhh..." She placed a finger over Ren's lips. "You don't need to leave so early!..." Licking her lips, she got closer... and closer...

"Yang?" He started to shift in his chair, trying to get distance from the apparently lustful Xiao-Long. "Yang?"

Right before lips met, he woke up with a startle, blankets going everywhere as he propped himself up on his elbows. Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat off of his brow.

"What... was... that..." He muttered to himself in gasping breaths. Looking around, he was in his dormitory, but... all the beds were connected?

"Renny... come back..."

"Flower-boy..."

"Feeeesh..."

Three voices made themselves loud and clear as he felt arms pull him back down onto the bed. Eyes widened, he tried to move but to no avail.

"Stop... moving... sloth..."

"C'mon..."

"Feeeeeeeesh..."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Why does this feel like something Jaune would be doing..."

Any further thought was swamped by unconsciousness.

* * *

 **I'm so sorry. xD**


	15. Chattin': Yang P 6

**Aaaaand we're back! Albeit with a shorter chapter.**

 **Holy piss it's been too long since I've updated.**

 **Sadly, this is the best I could do, and this is me _not_ working on my three other projects at all... so yeah. Plans for this are shaky right now, mainly because when October hits, so will the new season of RWBY... and some updates to the game RWBY:GE (which some people call a burning, festering wreck) will also plug up some free time...**

 **Yeah, I'll be too busy watching RWBY/killing myself with school work. Eeeeeyup.**

 **But still though. We're back! Saddle up everybody, because this cowboy's not stoppin' the story here!**

 **Yeehaw! (that's... that's what they say, right?)**

 **Crack the whip, make speed! We're heading right into the next chapter of...**

 **Ren's Dare!**

 ***woot woot!***

* * *

 **Yang's Arc P. 6: Chattin'**

"Hold this for me, could'ya?" She extended her arm with the medium-sized bag of Ren's clothing.

"Of course."

"Thanks!" She flashed another wide grin before turning on the ball of her foot and walking off to answer the call of nature; after all, just because they were trainees at Beacon didn't make them inhuman.

Yang had landed them in another shop this time around- the woman's clothing branch known as 'BRIGHT'- but had insisted that she wasn't looking to buy anything, instead doing some 'in depth window shopping'. Ren, finding no problem with the plan as it served as a very nice time-killer at the expense of his slightly aching legs, agreed.

Looking down at his scroll once more with both bags in the crook of his elbow, his eyes instinctively went to the notification tab before he even glazed over the time. Much to his relief, it was empty, a good sign considering that if his rambunctious orangette of a friend got in trouble, she would text or call him no matter the circumstances.

Eyes flicked upwards slightly, and took note of the time: five past four.

 _Perhaps in the rush of shopping, she's forgotten about the amusement park..._ Ren thought to himself about the possibility, and gladly entertained it. _And she seems to be content to shop these aisles anyway. Maybe she really will forget about those roller coasters..._

Looking back up and tucking his scroll back into its original position, he gazed around his surroundings yet again. The store itself was fairly reputable, and he could obviously see where Yang got her fashionable clothing from; the store itself seemed to hold the air of fashion itself. One could even venture into the lands of vogue if they dug hard enough, and from what Ren saw on the holographic directory at the entrance, the store itself was quite sizable.

He couldn't shake the feeling that it was different than what Yang usually wore, but he dismissed it as a first-glance hypothesis.

On the outside from first glance at the corner of Main and Violet avenue, it had two stories with each floor outlined by clear windows to allow maximum visibility and light cream-colored bricks on the outside that made it stand out from the other stores. Window shopping was undoubtedly a high-point of this store, with both floors proudly displaying their products.

Entering the building, he remembered he was initially treated with a blast of cold air, courtesy of a pumped up air conditioner that gave him a small shudder of chilling cold before he became accustomed to his surroundings. The building itself looked much larger on the inside than the outside as most buildings did, and when he found a map as Yang walked off while exclaiming, 'ooh, cute dress!', he found that there was an additional, larger level downstairs dedicated to...

 _Finer points of a private outfit that are not suited for public wear,_ Ren thought to himself as he returned his gaze to the hallway that led to the restroom. Seeing no mane of fiery blonde bounce towards him with each step, he let his mind drift again, a rare state of muffled silence while he was standing amongst the sparse flow of solos or duos perusing the aisles filling the air.

 _Nora, however, prefered other stores,_ he thought.

 _Forever Young was one she always adored,_ musing to himself. _Always cared about bright colors, never about being extremely fashionable._ He looked around to catch a glimpse of a woman yelling at what he could only assume was her partner, shouting several obscenities about his lack of sense when it came to matching colors.

 _I suppose it's a gift to me, then._ He felt pity for the man; it looked like he was getting absolutely scolded into the ground. But before he could continue watching the woman's not-so subtle insinuations at the man's lack of fashionable sense, Yang's voice rang out from his right.

"What'cha lookin' at there, Ren?" Her voice made him turn, her walking down the hallway the sight he was part dreading due to the fact that when she returned, silence would leave. Again.

"I'm currently observing a couple argue over whether..." He paused, tuning his ears to the commotion. "... Lime green works with faded yellow," he said with little emotion or intonation.

She made an expression of wincing, breathing in a hiss of air between clenched teeth. "Yowch. I feel bad for the person who even suggested that idea." She looked around for a quick second, and found the couple. "That them over there?"

"Yes."

"Huh." They stood there in silence for a few more moments, both slightly tilting their heads at the livid conversation. The woman was using her hands, facial expressions, and very graphic gestures with her hand while the man was simply standing there, trying to placate the over-reacting woman.

After the silence, Yang's eyes were still looking at the couple- the woman was now beginning to stomp off- as she spoke. "Hey, Ren?"

"Yes?" His eyes were still tracing the man who was jogging after his now-infuriated partner.

"Who'dya think would make a cuter couple, Jaune and Pyrrha or Yats and Velvs?"

He shook his head in a start, composure broken for a moment before looking at Yang with a questioning look. She was already looking at him, mischievous grin on her face.

"Yang, it's hardly professional to speak of our friends like that."

"Oh, come on! It's not like you haven't thought about cute couples before. I would say that you and Nora are one, but then you'd talk my ear off about how you two," she put her hands into a puppet form, moving four fingers up and down to meet a horizontal thumb, "aren't together-together."

"Because we aren't."

"Yeah, whatever. But answer the question! Who'd you think would make a cuter couple?"

He took a deep breath in, and let it out in a long, long sigh. "Yang, why are you asking me?"

"Wanted to strike up a conversation. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

Narrowing his eyes, he chose his words carefully. "I would rather not speak of my teammates in such a manner."

"Come on! Don't be so Weiss-y!" The pun didn't fly over his head, and he slightly drooped his shoulders to show his reaction to the ice pun. She put her hands up in defeat. "Okay, so I admit that wasn't my best."

"I concur."

"But seriously! You've gotta at least _entertain_ the idea for a split second."

"Do I really have to?"

"I mean, it'd be nice if you did. And you're a nice guy, arent'cha flower-boy?" If she ever had a jeering tone of voice, what she said was the closest thing to it.

"If you continue using that name, I'm not so sure," he retorted.

"Ooo! Bringin' out the claws now, are you?" She chuckled a bit. "Jaune and Pyrrha make for a way better couple, in my opinion."

He remained silent for a bit before he spoke, a tendency he had to pick what he said carefully before he mouthed it. "I agree." After all, Ren wasn't blind. While Yang may only know that Pyrrha had a crush on Jaune, Ren knew that the vice was also true...

But he was renowned for his ability to keep quiet, and keep quiet he did.

"So you _do_ think about things like this," she exclaimed.

"You were the one who posed the question," he said.

"But you do agree that Jaune and Pyrrha should totally hook up, right?"

He took another sigh. "Could we please move on from this conversation? It doesn't feel right speaking of them behind their backs like this."

"Oh, it's just some friendly banter between some good buds, right?" She nudged him on the arm to elicit a reaction, but Ren gave none as per usual. "Right?"

Returning to his neutral zone, he gave a 'Ren' answer. "Mmm."

"Glad you see things my way." She stretched again for a moment, bringing her elbows behind her as she loosened her shoulder blades. "Kay, well, are you ready to go?" She took one of the bags from Ren's arm and took it in her hand, swinging it gently along her side. "Unless you wanna stand here and chat all day with little ol' me?"

"I'll opt for the former, thank you." He looked at her, then his surroundings. "Where to first?"

"Well, I was thinkin' about going upstairs first, checking out what's new. Dress to impress is something I strive for everyday, you know?"

"I do now."

She pointed. "Well, the escalator's over there."

He nodded in the affirmative, and they paced their way through. When he had come in, the initial pathing of the store made it look like a stylized runway itself, save for the hangers of clothing on the sides. Not many people were in the store, but those who were certainly looked like they were on top of what was considered stylish at the time. Those who shopped there looked like they had come straight from a catalogue, looks and style senses both. He didn't see the arguing couple as he walked with Yang, and they reached the escalator in no time.

Getting on the escalator, Yang leaned on the railing as Ren took another look at the floor beneath him. The setup was quite symmetrical, with each section cornered off into its own area, headed by large banners with stylized logos and catch phrases.

Returning his attention to the step in front of him, his eyes were met with something entirely different than the stylized, symmetrical feel of the lower level.

The first thing that made its way to his senses were the brighter, more colorful lights that seemed to glow from the upper level that he was travelling to. Next came the noise, hushed murmurs and conversations all but gone in the noise. Stepping off of the escalator, he was met with something entirely different that what the aura of the first level had suggested. The entire floor itself seemed to buzz with the electric energy of conversation, and people milled about as if they had somewhere urgent to get to. Yang looked back at him from over her shoulder and motioned with her head and hand, a gesture forward.

"C'mon!" She started walking to the left, and Ren followed. Taking a step out of the alcove that the escalator was in, he found that this floor was situated much more casually, much more like a typical store, but still fashionable. Tags didn't carry the massive prices that the lower level had, and instead offered rather reasonable prices for items that looked just as wearable as the ones downstairs.

"You're probably wondering why the first and second floors are so different, right?" She asked him as she looked over her shoulder again, but stopped and, 'ooo-ed,' to herself as she took note of a pair of shorts that had caught her eyes- blue jean with the white fabric showing at the rips that ended at her thighs.

"That was a question that came to my mind, yes..." he alluded.

"Well, the lower floor is made for people like Weiss queen. All fancy-shmancy, over-the-top... But me?" She jabbed a thumb at herself while keeping a hand on the shorts. "I don't really like that kinda environment. Luckily this place has three floors, one for people like Weiss, one for people like me, and another for all sorts." She grinned at the end of that sentence. "Wanna know more?"

He resisted the urge to nod his head vehemently in the negative, instead opting for his calm demeanor. "No thank you."

"Heh, that's what I thought." Looking at the price tag on the shorts, she winced. "Eeeeyup, I'll wait to come with Weiss for this one." Turning back around to face Ren, she kept going. "Nora ever take you here?"

"I don't remember visiting such a place as this. She prefered Forever-"

"-Young," she interrupted. "Right?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I can see that in her. Seems like the type of person with colors, colors, and colors in mind. Right?"

"Quite."

"Figured." She started off again, but started walking deeper into that section of short shorts, Ren following behind. "I promise I won't take long!" She stopped again and turned around, smirking with a devilish glint in her eyes. "Because we're not done with the park yet."

He didn't even try to suppress an eye-twitch.

* * *

 _Aaaand I'll take_ that _one too,_ she said to herself as she spied another pair of leather, skin-tight gloves. After all, she burned through them quite quickly... _literally, on occasion,_ she thought to herself.

After finishing her little list in her mind, her counterpart for the day following behind like a loyal, green-clad, fairly lethal duckling with knowledge on how to kill grimm hundreds of ways, Ren spoke up.

"Yang?"

She replied over her shoulder. "Yo."

"I've noticed that you're taking quite a bit of time looking at gloves." He paused. "Is this in any way the reason for why you made me buy those black gloves?"

She shrugged. "Mayyybe."

"Mmph."

"You can't tell me they _didn't_ look good, though!"

"They didn't look good, Yang."

"No way. Black's totally your thing!"

"I disagree."

"Oh, whatever. Trust me, you'll be the best lady-killer around with the outfit I got you."

He shook his head. "I'm not looking to become a lady-killer, Yang."

"Really?" She got a bit closer to Ren. "I think it's a bit too late for you, then."

He blinked a few times, yet again unfazed. "Yang."

"Yeees?"

He started to walk off. "Too blunt." He tried to ignore the snickers behind him as he tried to put distance between the playful blonde and him.

* * *

Yang held true to her word; she finished with the store in quick notice, speeding through the aisles with a scanning eye and a mental wish-list for when Weiss came with her.

"Alrighty! Thanks for puttin' up with me, flower-boy." She gave him another grin as she walked next to him, to which he made eye contact with and returned his gaze forward.

"Not a problem," he said, bag and hands behind him as he walked.

Yang didn't even let a few seconds pass before she started the next conversation. "Hey Ren?"

"Yes?"

"How did you and Nora even meet?" She followed up with a quick statement. "I mean, I know you said you were outside the cities, so if you don't wanna say that's fine, so..."

He tilted his head slightly to the side and forward at the question, eyes narrowing for a slight second. "It's a story for another time. I would much rather not dampen the wonderful mood right now." His voice remained nonchalant, but sarcasm was hinted; Yang noted it.

"Sarcasm?"

"About my story? No." He barely let his lips curve up as he went on. "I cannot speak for the rest, though."

"Wow, Ren! First little jokes, then a sense of sarcasm? Maybe I'm a good influence on you, eh?" She nudged him with an elbow, to which he gently shook his head.

"The exact opposite, in fact. But if you wish to see it in that light, I won't stop you," he wise cracked again with the same, calm voice.

"You've learned much, flower-boy. Maybe I'll reward you with going easy on you in the park, huh?"

"A reward system. I'm flattered."

She laughed, different than the light chuckles emitted when she teased Ren a few minutes ago. "Oh, man. Flower-boy, you're really _blossoming_ into a funny guy!" She didn't even bother apologizing for the terrible pun. Much to her surprise, however, he heard him chuckle as well, only making her smile again.

 _It's just like with Blake... so quiet you have to actually try and hear it,_ she thought to herself as the small burst of euphoria passed.

"The escalator's that way. Are you sure you're ready to leave?"

"Yup."

He nodded in confirmation, but he was thinking only one word as he walked.

 _Shucks._

* * *

Stepping outside into the crowd of people, both Yang and Ren checked the time; it was a quarter until five.

"The park is still open?" Ren asked in an inquiring tone, but the message underneath wasn't that subtle.

"You're not getting out that easily, man. Course it's still open!" She started a brisk pace that forced Ren to keep up as she kept talking. "Besides, we still have a few rides that we haven't even tried yet, and if I remember, you can only ride some of them when it's night-time!"

"I'm looking forward to it," he deadpanned.

She scoffed. "Wow, another one? Jeez, you're on a roll here, Ren."

"It must be the bad influence that you're holding over me, Yang."

"Aww! I'm touched."

"Hm."

They walked a bit more before stopping at a crossways where they waited for the pedestrian light to turn green with other pedestrians.

After ten seconds, Yang broke the silence once more. "Hey Ren?"

"Yes?" His eyes were still on the sign, but Yang was just looking around casually.

"Do you think that if a car drove into us, we could stop it?"

That shook him out of his concentration again, and he looked at Yang with a set of eyes and an expression that expressed, "Wha-?"

"Yang, are you insane?"

"Relax, dude! I'm not actually gonna do it!" She wouldn't say it outloud, but she _was_ curious now... After all, she'd taken way harder hits before.

Right?

He gave a long sigh at the extremely 'Nora' idea. "Yang, why are you asking." As the light turned green, they both started walking across the street, cars waiting dutifully behind the white line that enforced the barrier between cars and civilians. "The odds of one actually hitting a car while crossing the street are remarkably low."

"I know, I know." Her eyes looked towards the invisible shield being projected from the white line, preventing cars from suddenly bursting through and causing loss of life. Thanks to Atlesian technology, they were able to create miniaturized shields like the one that covered the top of Amity Colosseum. "But, like, if someone were to drive at us. Could we stop them?"

Making it across the street, cars started moving as soon as the last pedestrian had made it across. Ren looked at Yang, who was already making eye-contact with him. "If a car were to try and hit us, our aura would take a rather sizable blow." He took another few seconds before responding, playing out the unlikely situation in his mind. "But we would survive. Bruised, but alive."

She nodded. "But what about you? I mean, I can't do that aura channel thing that you can do." She kept on her point by doing a punch forward, and brought it back. "Could you stop it?"

"The force from my projection of aura would stop the car, yes." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "And likely wreck the front of the car itself."

"Eh, that'd happen anyway if it hit either of us. But hey," she supplemented her words with hand gestures, "at least it's not us getting wrecked!" She nudged him with her elbow again. "Eh?"

"... If you're looking to find a play on words with our topic with 'wrecked', Yang, it's not really working."

"Ow. Could've at least told me to bring some aloe vera for that burn you just put on me, man."

He put an index finger up, other hand still behind his back as he walked. "Actually, studies have proven that specific types of seaweed treat burns bett-"

"Neeeeeeeerd."

Scholar-mode Ren blinked a few times. "Excuse me?"

"Nerd."

He looked at her, deadpan with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" She shrugged with palms up and bent arms. "It's just sooooo boring when Weiss starts talking about dust," she starts counting on her fingers, "Rubes with her weapons, or Blake with her books all the time. Now there's you with your..." She waved her hands vaguely in the air at his general direction. "Seaweed and algae and other gross stuff."

"It's not 'gross.'" He narrowed his eyes for a second. "You and Nora have rather similar reactions to natural treatments," he thought outloud. "Why is that?"

"Maybe 'cause stuff like that is supposed to _stay_ in the seas of Remnant, and not on my face?"

"It's not as if they bring you bodily harm..."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, flowerboy."

"Yang, studies have proven that-"

"Algae and seaweed and rocks are supposed to stay on the face of _Remnant_ , and not the face of _Yang Xiao-Long_!" Gesturing with open hands as she washed over her face with said appendages, she finished his sentence for him; it was much to Ren's silent ire, but he just kept quiet. "That's that, Ren."

He sighed. "Is there no getting through to you?"

"Nnnope."

Shaking his head, he just kept walking. "So be it."

* * *

 **More conversations. I'll admit, this is rather empty fluff, with little in the ways of plot, but when I think of moments between platonic sunflowyr, I just... go for it, man. 'Specially because I can't think straight when my mind is filled with precalc and biology all the damn time now.**

 **Sigh.**

 **But, I won't leave you unfulfilled! Take this super flipping long omake, and shove it up someone's rear!**

 **Don't actually.**

 **...**

 **Seriously, don't.**

* * *

 ** _Setting: They're still in the store from the beginning of this chapter: "Bright." Remember how Ren saw that the lower level was dedicated to... finer points of an outfit? Pretend he never saw that. Pretend he's going in blind. And pretend that Yang felt a little... sultry today._**

 **The rules of an omake apply to this. It's weird, it's all over the place, and it's just... bad. Bad. But hey, are you craving some sunflowyr? (cough dark deceiver cough cough)**

 **Don't worry, I am too.**

 ** _ALSO, CREDIT TO KING EDGAR FOR SPROUTING THIS IDEA WITH THAT FATED REVIEW. YOU MAGNIFICENT, GLORIOUS, (enter synonym to previous two words) BASTARD._**

 ** _Too lazy to look at his review? Well, his prompt was for Yang to go on a lingerie shopping spree. I'll leave it there._**

* * *

"Alright. First stop, the lower level." Her partner for the day couldn't see it, but she smirked as she started her march towards her destination.

Ren didn't really mind where he was going; right now, his attention was focused on examining the items around him. "Sure."

Following behind, he could help but notice that she seemed to be walked with a rather brisk pace and was purposefully trying to sway her hips, more than she usually did. As per usual, however, he ignored it as her savvy to show off in stores and public areas, and kept walking close behind. The walk to the escalator was a quick one, but as she neared the entrance, Ren still walking close behind her, she stopped.

Ren didn't quite stop fast enough, and he bumped into her, eliciting a...

 _Purr?_

He was still confused about the noise, so much so that he wasn't able to form the word, 'sorry.'

Yang looked over her shoulder and rose an eyebrow. "Watch it there, Ren," she said. It didn't sound like much of a threat, though, as she kept walking and stepped onto the escalator. Looking over her shoulder as she descended, the hallway the escalator was concealed in was pitch black, and he couldn't see what was at the end.

He blinked a few times, but hurriedly followed her onto the escalator to apologize anyway. Stepping on, it wasn't long before his head was filled with nothing but black. However, lilac eyes popped out in front of him, but they were closer than he expected. In fact, they were on the same level as his... which meant...

 _She's on the same step as me? How?_

"Oh, hey there, good-lookin'." One lilac bulb vanished for a moment as she winked in the dark. "Come round' here often?"

"Yang?" He looked around him, but he couldn't see anything except black. "Why are we not moving?"

"We're not moving?" He heard a foot step, and something brushing up against his right arm. He knew it was Yang, and that didn't make it any better. "You're moving my heart right now."

He blinked. "Yang?"

"Yeees?"

"What are you doing?"

"Preparing you."

"Preparing me?" He repeated the words in a questioning tone. "For wha-"

His eyes were blinded by a flash of red light, disorienting him as he felt arms push him off the escalator. Years of training paid off, and while he didn't fall flat on his face, he made a rather ungraceful exit from the strange escalator. Shutting and reopening his eyes a few times, he looked around him.

He regretted doing so immediately.

Yang sidled up next him without the strange arm to arm contact, and made a wide gesture. "So, ready to get to work?"

He looked at her. "Yang, I have many questions."

"I bet you do, bud. But hold off on em, could'ya?"

"Yang, why did you bring m-"

"Shhh." She put a finger on his lips, which he recoiled from immediately. Yang didn't seem fazed as she retracted it, the gesture doing its job. "I'm just doing some shopping! No harm, right?"

"Yang, the clothing here isn't... meant for me to be..."

"Oh, come on Ren. You're a grown man. You can handle looking at some of this stuff, right?"

"I feel as if it's not appropriate for my person to be here right now."

"And why's that?"

"I am a male."

"Are you sure?"

He ignored the jab at his decidedly unisexual attire. "This is meant for females."

"Hey, it's not like there's only stuff here for ladies!" She jiggled her eyebrows. "Some stuff for guys is here too..."

He felt a twitch coming on. "Yang."

She didn't even respond as she began to walk off with a giggle. The walk escalated into a jog, a sprint, and she vanished around a corner in no time.

"Yang!" He called after her, but nothing replied. Looking around, he noted that there was... nobody else here. No employees, nor other store-goers were frequenting the aisles. It was quiet...

 _Too quiet,_ he thought to himself.

"YANG!" He called again, louder. Yet again, no response came in the form of a blonde's voice. He made the executive decision to follow behind her, trying to preserve his gentlemanly status by refraining from looking at as many products as possible, opting for looking at the ground mostly as he looked up occasionally to scan his surroundings. All around him was the literal _definition_ of risque, x-rated clothing. It was terrible.

He didn't deserve this!

 _What did I do to deserve this punishment!_ His thoughts echoed again and again as he walked, white tiles his only salvation as he walked, and walked, and walked...

Right into something soft.

Looking up with a jolt, Yang was there.

Without a top.

 **Without** a top.

 **Without a top.**

 _Wait. Then what did I run into?_

Ren blinked. He made eye contact, and looked down.

He pointed, and Yang just nodded, the grin of the (sultry) devil looking back at him.

He twitched.

A bit of blood might have leaked from his nose.

And he fell over, eyes glazed over.

* * *

 **I am considering re uploading this later on if I continue this little omake as a chapter of its own if I feel like it. I mean, come on. This added, like, 1000 words to the word count.**

 **And it's damn funny, imo.**

 **Until next time, fam!**


	16. Drum-roll, please!: Yang P 7

**man, i've been gone a while. it can't've been too long, though...**

 ***goes onto Ren's Dare***

 **"last updated September 4th"**

 **holY SHI-**

Updated 5/29 to accomodate for plot changes in next chapter. :)

* * *

 **Yang's Arc P. 7: Prep for the Finale, drum-roll please!**

They were still walking to the amusement park when Ren stopped walking. "Oh."

"Oh?" Yang, not catching on, stopped after she noticed that a certain green-clad huntsman wasn't on her left-hand side. She looked at him, a question in her eyes. "Oh, what?"

He didn't even look at Yang when he spoke.

"She's in trouble."

"Nora?" He didn't respond. "How can you tell? Don't tell me you guys have some sort of mental connection, too."

A small frown slighted his face. "No, but there is a suspiciously pink cloud of smoke coming from that direction," and gestured in said direction.

Looking to where Ren was directing her, she expected a tiny, wafting, wispy cloud.

Lilac eyes widened as she instead gazed upon what looked to be a mushroom made of pink cotton candy.

"Oh."

* * *

 **At an abandoned cotton candy factory...**

"PYRRHA, YOU'VE GOTTA BELIEVE ME! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

A mane of red hair shook left and right as she just sighed, the scroll almost emanating Pyrrha's aura; it was comforting, gentle, and just a bit irritated by the situation. "Nora..."

She redirected her attention to Jaune, standing behind the Mistralian champion with a facepalm propped up on an arm going across his chest. "JAUNE! C'MON! You know me! Little ol' Nora couldn't hurt a fly! Certainly not rampage through a _cotton candy factory_! Right?"

After a few more seconds of silence, the scroll spoke up. "... Officer, uh...?"

The civilian police officer looked at the video on the scroll, tired eyes meeting fresh sky-blue. "The name's Valentine."

"Uh, Officer Valentine, could..." The voice on the scroll swallowed. "Could I speak to you in private, please? It's about the person you've got detained right now?"

"THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT!" Struggling a bit more against the three sets of cuffs on her hands and six other officers holding onto her arms and legs, the officer looked at the scroll.

"You're hunters, aren't you."

The officer saw the teen purse his lips. "Yeah. How'd you tell?"

"Well, for one, it took three officers to put the cuffs on her, and two more pairs to keep them on." Valentine's eyes went to the compact hammer that the sugar-powered orangette nearly blew away his whole squad with, its new home a wrecked conveyor belt that was now doubling as a table. "And the second thing that gave it away? The big... hammer... grenade... _thing_ ," trailing off for a lack of words.

Jaune awkwardly scratched the back of his head, blond hair falling over his eyes slightly as he looked down.

The officer looked back at him. "So you know her?"

"She's on our team."

The officer rose an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Oum. You've got it rough, don't you-"

"I CAN HEAR YOU!" shouted Nora. She struggled with the officers again, nearly moving a step before getting piled upon by an additional three.

"Nora, just... please," Jaune begged, "let us handle this. I think you've done enough for today."

The orangette visibly relaxed a little bit, all nine officers grabbing onto her breathing a sigh of relief as they could finally slightly relinquish their grip on the surprisingly strong teen.

"Okay..." She trailed off in a defeated voice, the same voice that Jaune and Pyrrha would hear her speak in when Ren forced her to complete her homework.

Taking a deep breath in and letting it out, the officer let a chuckle out, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"You kids go to Beacon?"

Pyrrha answered for the three of them. "Yes, we do, and I do apologize for our teammate's actions. We're coming down there rig-"

"No, no, no need for that." He waved his hands. "No need for you to come down. It's a long ride anyway." Both Jaune and Pyrrha looked at the officer, eyebrows furrowed and heads tilted through the screen on the scroll.

"Why?" they asked at the same time.

"We'll bring her to you." He cleared his throat. "I will have to report this to your headmaster, though, young miss." Nora looked at the officer. Blowing a puff of air through the corner of her mouth, she then looked at the scroll. Jaune and Pyrrha were both looking at her, silently imploring her to go gently into the night.

"Oh, alright..."

A nod of his head and the officers let go of her, although reluctantly, eyes still tracking her warily as she walked her way to the Vale PD van.

The officer looked back at the scroll. "Protocol dictates that hunters and huntresses in training are to be sent to Beacon in the case of misdemeanors. That'll include this occasion. You'll be getting her within the hour, so is there anything I should know before cramming her into a vehicle?"

Jaune spoke up first, almost hurriedly. "Make sure she doesn't get her hands on any sugar, please."

"And again, we're very, very sorry for this. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again." Pyrrha, ever the diplomat, bowed her head slightly.

"Oh, and please don't taser her," Jaune finished.

The man tilted his head. "Why?"

"Long story short, her semblance acts like a massive battery waiting to be charged. So just... don't let it happen." He paused. "For everybody's sake, you know?"

The policeman nodded. "Alright." Looking over, he gave a thumbs up, and they heard the sound of an automobile speeding away to what was likely the closest airlift pad. Redirecting his attention back to the two teens, he gave a slight tip of his faded blue PD cap. "I'll be seeing you in a bit."

"Right."

"Yes, thank you, Officer."

Pressing the button to terminate the call, Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other.

"You know when we had that chat last night about whether we should've checked on Nora or not?"

"Yes, I do, Jaune."

"I think we should have checked on her."

Pyrrha sighed. "Yes, we should have. But, no use now..." Walking over to the restroom to change out of her dorm room attire, she kept talking. "I guess that's why we need Ren here, isn't it? To control Nora."

"Yeah, it's like that Yin-Yang stuff he always talks about. Balancing out different forces..."

Jaune was met with the sound of the bathroom door shutting, leaving him alone in the four-person bedroom. Looking down at his scroll, he checked the time.

He thought: _Oum Ren. When are you going be back?_

* * *

 **Back with Ren and Yang...**

"So, what do you want to do about it?"

"Well, hopefully, Jaune and Pyrrha have been contacted of her situation."

"Right... but hey, on the bright side, she won't be spending the night in a jail cell!"

"Correct. The protocol is that hunters and huntresses-in-training- wait." He looked at Yang. "How did you know that?"

She gave a smile. "I have a few family relatives who might've hit the town on occasion when they were still young and preppy."

He rose an eyebrow. "Are one of these family members a certain Tai-Yang?"

"Maybe."

"Well, it's all but certain that the fiery blood inside you must be hereditary."

"I take that as a compliment, thank you very much!" flipping her hair as she said so. "But still, you think she'll be okay?"

"Getting in trouble with the police is not at the top of my concerns. What I _am_ worried about is whether or not there will be a dorm to return to tonight."

"Why's that?"

He jumped at the opportunity to educate a fellow teen. "Are you familiar with the concept of opposites, and how they balance? Yin and Yang?"

"I know one of them," she cracked. "Get it? Because one of them's named... Yang..." She trailed off as Ren just shook his head and kept walking.

"It's the proposition that there are two forces. Strong and gentle, light and dark, warmth and cold. They are complementary to one another, and without the other, one runs rampant."

"So what you're saying is that you're gentle, dark, and cold? Huh."

"Those are but a few pairings with Yin and Yang," ignoring the jab. "But you understand the concept?"

"Yeah, without her inhibitor, you, she goes crazy like Ruby on a cookie high."

He blinked. "A what?"

"Cookie-high." She said it like it was nothing. "You know, when someone eats a lot of sugar, it's a sugar high?" He nodded. "So, when Rubes has too many cookies, it's a cookie high."

"Due to the excessive amounts of... what?"

"I don't know what the specific ingredient is. I never really tested it that much... but what I do know is that it doesn't work with raisin cookies." Yang made a blech noise. "I didn't like raisins either, so that was okay."

Ren blinked.

"I see," he said with a lack of a better response. They walked in silence for a few more seconds, Ren striding easily while Yang had her hands behind her head, walking without a care in the world.

"So, why wouldn't Jaune or Pyrrha be able to handle her?"

"Although we've all been team members for months, I've known Nora for many, many years now. Jaune and Pyrrha could do in the short term, but Nora tends to have quite the streaks when left unattended." He pursed his lips. "In other words, if she doesn't have something to do while I'm not there, she tends to get incredibly hyperactive."

"Right. So what did she do when you just... weren't around?"

"We haven't parted since we've met," he said. Ren noticed Yang growing a smirk on her face, and he gave a small sigh. "It's simply for comfort."

"Yeah, don't worry Ren. I can understand; you cling to her like family."

 _Like family?_ he repeated to himself.

He nodded as a response but stopped talking as they kept walking. Yang gave an audible sigh as she looked up at the sky, the shattered moon of Remnant making itself more and more prominent as the minutes drifted past them.

* * *

 **A few minutes later...**

After the conversation about Nora's hyperactivity, Ren asked about Ruby's sleep habits. Comparing them with Nora's, he found interesting similarities in bedtimes and late-night binges of video games.

"Did you coax her to fall asleep using pancakes and copious amounts of maple syrup as a bribe?" she asked, grinning at him.

"No." She looked at him, clearly interested. "It was a combination of honey, a spoon, and a lie that the honey was in actuality horse tranquilizer."

Yang's mouth went ajar. "What? Are you serious?" She started laughing as Ren nodded, looking at her briefly before they reached another intersection. The nightlife was coming alive at this time, with restaurants and nightclubs now opening their doors to the customers that roamed the metropolis of downtown Vale. The ocean and the docks came to light with the fading, flashing lights of schooners and bright greens on moorings that signified safe harbor, and crowds began forming at intersections and crossings.

"I am entirely serious. It worked well. She went to sleep within the minute and she was none the wiser when she woke."

She was still chuckling when she looked back at him, Ren himself looking slightly amused. "Why horse tranquilizer? Couldn't you just use... you know, the regular stuff?"

"I would, but sadly Nora does not qualify as, 'regular stuff'."

"Gotcha."

The pedestrian light turned green, and the pair walked with the general crowd, weaving their way through a few people who were still looking down at their scrolls, not paying attention to what was directly in front of them. Reaching the other side, Yang looked around.

"It's been too long since I've hit the town... I could stay here all night if I wanted to!" She looked at Ren, his expression that of someone who did not agree with something recently said. "Don't worry, I know that you need to get back to your queen. And besides, I've gotta get to the bus pad too. Gotta greet Rubes and Weiss-Queen."

He nodded. "Of course," taking a left and seeing the familiar sight of the park's front gate once more.

Once they got close enough, they heard a voice shout out from the booths. "Ah! Welcome back you two!"

Yellow bracelet-bound wrists waved. "Hello again!" Walking up to the stand once more, Ren following behind, she produced her pass in her hand. "You remember us?"

"Yeah. Helps for remembering all those kids that try to sneak in." Taking the pass, she gave them a quick scan and tore off a sensor that signified the ticket could no longer be used past this day. She motioned with his head. "Go on ahead, you two. Remember, park closes at eleven!" she said, handing back the passes.

Stuffing it back into her pocket, she gave her two thumbs-ups. "Got it! Thanks!"

Ren gave a minute smile and nodded to the man as they walked through the turnstile. Once they made it through, they were greeted with a far more illuminated park than the one that they left in the afternoon. From a distance, they were able to see the highest of coasters, but the walls around the grounds prevented them from seeing ground level up until they got into the park.

The ground itself was illuminated with arrows painted in florescent colors, each leading towards a specific part of the park. The stalls were now equipped with pizza, hot dogs, and churros as seating area was set up to cater to the plentiful crowds during the late-night rush. People were already starting to sit down, either resting from the day they've already or the night that lied ahead. All of the rides were now up and running- much to Yang's audible joy and Ren's silent ire. Signs with flashy letters showed off the name of the sky-high rides as carts soared about on dust-colored railings, the carts themselves leaving trails of light behind them as they sped across the night sky. Crowds of people were still milling about, but the park was large enough to accommodate; a world-wide acclaimed amusement park has to maintain profits _and_ happiness levels somehow.

"Wow. This looks..."

"Impressive," Ren finished for her. He spied yet another ride that looked as if it were dunked in florescent light. "I wonder how much dust it cost to illuminate all these rides."

"Lots, probably. I'll ask Weiss 'bout it when she gets back tonight."

Ren looked at her, turning his head faster than he usually did. "When are they coming home again?"

"Midnight? I dunno." She grinned. "Plenty of time, right?"

 _Midnight. Wasn't that later than what she previously told me?_ He dismissed the thought, guessing that Yang was likely not paying attention to him the first time he asked. _In that case, I_ _still have four hours, maximum._

Yang looked at him, arms away from her body as she motioned. "C'mon, flower-boy!" She said it loud enough that other people heard it, but he didn't care about the smiles he was getting from the civilians.

As he subconsciously adjusted his sleeve, he shook his head. "Coming, Yang."

Smiling in satisfaction, she turned around and slowed her pace a bit. Once she heard the signature footsteps of Ren- quiet and paced as if each move was calculated- she looked over her shoulder.

"C'mon! I don't have all night with you, so hurry up."

"In a way, you do," he mumbled.

The crowd they weaved through was sizable, filled with all manners of Faunus and humans of varying ages. Children were pulling their parents along by the hand as they ran with their pointer finger extended at a cotton candy stand or another kid-sized ride, and teenagers the age of the two Beacon students were walking in groups, some pairs hand in hand, enjoying the spectacular show of lights that the amusement park provided. They just kept walking, Ren loosely following behind Yang as she simply walked where she wanted. After all, she had no real destination in her mind except for finding something fun to do.

* * *

"You may now disembark. Please check all belongings..."

"Well," Yang said over the intercom as she unbuckled herself, "that was fun, wasn't it Ren?"

Himself already unbuckled, he was dusting off some invisible specks of dust off of his tunic. "It was enjoyable, yes."

"... have a nice rest of your day!" said the automated intercom, finishing as the next group of roller-coaster riders ambled to their seats on the newly vacated cars. Ren and Yang walked out of the crowd, Yang walking in the direction of the park's edge, an edge shared with the ocean that gave resting visitors and thrill seekers a clear view of the blue waters.

Ren didn't mind the silence. He knew, however, that silence wasn't the norm for Yang, and looked as she began to slow her pace. Before he could ask what was wrong, Ren heard a sigh.

Stopping, she turned around to looked at the view of dust that illuminated the night. "This is nice, isn't it?" He looked at her as she said the words while looking not at him, but up at the lights that filled her vision.

He looked up as well but kept his silence.

"If only I could see this every night. All I've got is Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, but..." she trailed off. Giving herself a smile, she continued. "It still feels like more enough with them, you know?"

Another slight pause.

Returning the eye contact, she spotted a bench and motioned for him to come with. As they walked, Ren formulated a reply in his head.

 _More than enough,_ he thought. _A team is everything to an individual, and you can't have the team without the individual._

The two of them taking a seat on the bench located right next to a ramen station, Ren spoke. "Yes, having a team is nice. Teammates stand by each other, and they would do anything to help you."

"Right?" She nodded her head. "I knew you would get it, flower-boy."

The two of them sat in silence for a while, both of them watching the crowd and the lights above them.

"It's weird how our teams are everything to us now. How we've gotten along so well after how we started. I didn't even get a chance to start missing home before I started arguing with Weiss," she joked.

"I suppose that is why we trust Ozpin," Ren replied. "He knows how teaming works, and ensured that we would work to our fullest capacity with the right people."

"Or maybe he just got lucky." Ren gave her a skeptical look, and she chuckled. "Oh, come on. Did you not hear us fighting right across the hall a few months back when Weiss was still being the ice-cold ice queen?"

Ren thought back, and now clearly remembered. "I do remember. But all is well now between you all, right?"

"Yeah. Blake and Weiss have made up, and Rubes even made a little team attack for them. I go shopping with Weiss, and Weiss reads with Blake sometimes." Yang made a thinking noise, a neutral hm. "Did you guys have any problems when you first met Pyrrha and Jaune?"

"No. Our biggest issue was communication mid-combat." Ren looked around, noticing the moonlight's reflection on the water. "And of course, making sure that Nora didn't raid our community pantry every morning. That was primarily my job."

She chuckled. "Yeah, so no actual fighting?"

"Not us, no."

"Did you ever fight with Nora?"

The question caught him off guard. "Fight? With Nora?" he repeated.

"I mean, I've argued with Ruby," she explained. "It just happens with family, so I thought you two would have your moments too, you know?"

Ren thought back the years before Beacon, when they attended prep schools and lived in their own, small house. "We have had a few, occasional arguments, yes. But they only served to strengthen our relationship as time went on."

"Same here. It's funny how, when you think about it, we argued about such stupid things." Yang went back to arguments with Ruby about cookies, adding weapon mods to her scale model of what would eventually become Crescent Rose, and whether or not their drunkard of an uncle was a good influence or not.

Ren thought of debates over syrup limitations, bedtimes, and homework. "However unremarkable in topic, though, they did get rather heated," he said, half to himself and half to Yang. Shouting was not unheard of when it came to arguments, as Ren had to learn how to stand his ground against Nora's attempts to whittle down his will to force her to do homework.

"Yeah, they did, didn't they." Yang remembered how she had to fend off Ruby's puppy eyes and semblance when she tried to get the cookie jar from Yang's reach. However much they shouted at each other, they always ended the day with something like a game of tag or a pillow fight. The winners, respectively, were Ruby and Yang, but it didn't matter to them. They went to bed happy and content with what they had: family.

Another shared minute in silence. Both Ren and Yang, although neither of them could read minds, knew that they were both reminiscing. They let it continue, uninterrupted. Coming across fond memories in the presence of another who could respect the silence- the nostalgia of memories- was rare to come across.

It lasted for about thirty seconds before Yang broke it.

Out of nowhere, she jumped up. It startled Ren- he was in the throes of remembering another argument over whether or not Nora could add a syrup dispenser on Magnhild when Yang burst with energy.

"Oh my Oum, Ren, I almost forgot!"

She looked alarmed, almost panicked as she stood and put her hands atop of her head, fingers interlaced as she looked at him.

"What's wrong? Did you lose something?" He looked at her pockets and could see the spare change from their shopping spree midday. She didn't seem to be missing any clothing accessories either.

"No, I almost forgot the last, final attraction of the day! I wasn't supposed to bring you here!"

He blinked, mind immediately racing to how she could be so forgetful of her schedule. "What? How could you forge-"

Yang turned to the ramen stand next to them and slammed down two five lien cards. "Two servings, one extra spicy and one regular to go!"

The old man behind the counter nodded and as Yang turned her head to look at Ren, apparently oblivious she interrupted him. "I was thinking about the nightlife so much that I forgot about our stunning, real nightlife finale!" Ren still looked skeptical. "It's not a Yang Xiao-Long day if we don't go there," she added.

At the moment, Ren was still confused. "How can you forget your main attraction?" he finished.

The man bringing up the two servings of ramen in two to-go boxes and chopsticks taped to the side, Yang thanked the man and grabbed Ren by the sleeve cuff, pulling him off the bench and shoving his serving of ramen, the regular flavor, into his chest as she relinquished her grip and motioned with her head to follow her.

Yang then took off to a surprisingly fast sprint, and Ren was left with a confused look on his face and a box of hot ramen in his chest as he wondered just where they were going. Sighing, he called after her.

"Yang, wait!"

* * *

 **Back at Beacon...**

 _"I swear, it wasn't me, Lacy."_

 _"It wasn't you?"_

 _"It wasn't me, please, please believe me. Why would"_

She flipped the page.

 _"I ever do something like that?"_ the sentence finished.

"Because you're a liar, that's why." Talking mainly to herself, Blake glanced over at her scroll. It said it was already seven o'clock, and Blake swiped at the lock screen, finding her way to her messaging app- only to find it empty again.

 _I guess Weiss and Ruby are still en route,_ Blake thought to herself. _But nothing from Yang either?_

Restless, she turned off her scroll again, having repeated the same cycle of turning on her scroll only to find it empty and devoid of any contact with the rest of her team. The scroll originally acting as the only light source in the room, the dorm was once again mired in the mixture of the setting sun and rising moon. Looking back at her book, the cat Faunus frowned.

 _It's so quiet without them here,_ she thought. _Usually, Ruby would be either playing games on her scroll or listening to music so loudly that it leaked from her headphones. At the same time, Weiss would either be shouting at Ruby and Yang to quiet down as she attempted to finish her homework on Aural displacement. Yang would be trying to do something to irritate Weiss..._ _Or me._

She never thought she would miss the noise- after all, they usually made so much noise it wakes her up at unholy hours at night- but such quiet made it feel lonely again.

 _It's just like when I was with the Fang,_ she thought. _Lonely, with some trees to keep me company and Taurus to keep me in check._ She leaned over and swung her legs out, looking at the door. Her book still clutched in her right hand, she brought it onto her lap and fiddled with the silk bookmark that she got from the festival yesterday.

"I wonder what JNPR's doing," she mumbled. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were never very loud across the hall except for some nights when Blake awoke to hear one of three team members- Ren, Jaune, or Pyrrha- attempting to calm down a hyped-up Nora. They never made too much noise otherwise, though- and she guessed that Ren was the reason why Nora hadn't torn down the dorm room, building, and Beacon's entire campus yet.

 _So what do they even do in their free time? Pyrrha has Jaune running ragged, that's for sure. Are they training right now?_

Pursing her lips, she decided to find out. The huntress needed something to do and, strangely enough, she was seeking out voices instead of embracing their absence.

 _Call me domesticated,_ she joked to herself as she stepped into the middle of the room and stretched. After hearing several satisfactory _cricks_ _,_ she tied her bow and grabbed her scroll, tucking it into her pocket and placing her book on her dresser.

"See you later," she said to the book as she broke eye-contact with the cover page, _"A Learned Memory,"_ and walked towards the door. Taking a step into the hallway, she took a glance around. All of the dorms were quiet, some with their lights out already. Sunday nights were certainly quieter than Saturdays: even though they were at a school for killing Grimm, they were still at a _school,_ and students oft found themselves in dire need of sleep after the weekend they had.

Taking a few steps, she knocked on Team JNPR's door.

No response.

She knocked again.

"Hello? Pyrrha? Jaune?" she asked.

Still nothing.

 _They must be training then,_ she thought. Blake knew that the two wouldn't be sleeping yet- from what Nora and Ren have told her, they train often.

Blake was just beginning to mull over the decision of whether or not it was worth the effort to climb to the roof before she heard Jaune's voice further down the hallway.

"You have to be more careful, Nora. If you can't go outside without creating a zone of mass destruction in Vale, I'm going to have Ren babysit you at all times."

"Awhhh, but Ren's no fun!"

"Nora, how concerned do you think Ren would be if he heard that you got in trouble?" Blake recognized the three voices instantly and looked in their direction as they got closer. "You know better."

Blake heard no response from Nora, instead seeing them turn the corner. Making eye-contact, Jaune and Pyrrha gave her a tired smile and wave, Nora looking as dejected as she sounded.

"Hey, Blake," Jaune waved. "What're you doing out at this time?"

"I was actually looking for you two," she replied. Blake gave a closer look to Nora. "So what happened to you three?"

"Nora had a night out on the town," Pyrrha said.

Blake immediately thought back to how Ren described Nora without his supervision.

 _He said something about not watching the news this weekend. I guess this is what he meant._

"What happened?"

"She destroyed an old factory. It was already broken down anyway, so nobody was hurt," Jaune said, stopping in front of their dorm. "Man, I really admire Ren's ability to hold onto you, Nora."

She looked at him. "You're not going to tell him, are you?"

He looked at Blake. "Sure." Nora immediately perked up. "If you promise to change the terms of his dare."

Nora nodded, her eager reaction coming through in desperation. "Yeah, of course, sure!"

"Blake and Yang came over last night to tell us that Ruby and Weiss were off on..." he trailed off.

"A partner mission," Blake finished for him, silently praising Jaune for his concern over Ren's wellbeing. "Because of that, Ren will not be able to complete this deal you have with him. So can he do it next week?"

Nora, now looking perfectly fine, struck a pose. Making a check mark with her hands, she stroked her chin and began to think out loud.

"Well, I suppose. It's only fair." Then, she turned around and got face-to-face with Jaune. Even though she was more than a head shorter than him, he was still startled, and backed up while she looked up at him with dangerously mischevious eyes. His back hitting the wall, she jabbed a finger into his chest. "As long as you promise that Ren never hears of what I did."

Blake watched this whole process go down and contemplated whether or not she should tell Nora that Ren already knew his partner was going to create chaos in Vale.

 _Nobody got hurt,_ she thought. _So, I guess I can keep quiet._

"We won't say anything to Ren," Pyrrha promised. "I'm sure he already knows, though."

Nora frowned, looking away from Jaune and giving him room to breathe. "Yeah, he will won't he. He always knows when I did something I wasn't supposed to."

The orangette's rapid changes in mood, from dejected, regular, then introspective, made Blake wonder to herself if Nora really was just a pure ball of energy.

 _She and Ren are always next to each other. At the lunch table, in training simulations, probably in bed._

Blake shook her head.

 _Separate beds. Separate beds, Blake. Those two must have gone through hell to be that close._

"I'm sure Ren won't be that mad at you, Nora." Jaune fiddled with the doorknob to their dorm. "Besides, I don't think Ren's capable of anger," he joked. Pyrrha and Nora both chuckled slightly, Blake barely smiling.

"I'll let you guys get some sleep, then," Blake said.

Nodding, Jaune slid his scroll through a card sensor, and the locking mechanism clicked open. Stepping into the room, Nora was the last to enter.

"Hey, Nora?" Blake said. She turned around, and looked at Blake with fresh eyes.

"Yeah, Blake?"

"Just to let you know, Ren spent his day with me yesterday. He's currently off with Yang right now, and he will be coming back for the rest of the week until next weekend."

Nora nodded. "Rightio. That sounds okay!" Turning around, Blake kept talking.

"You know, Ren's more tolerable than I thought." Nora stopped by the door for a moment. "You're lucky to have him, and your team as such good friends."

The orangette looked over her shoulder, turning slightly with her hands behind her back. She gave Blake a wide smile, and ran.

Directly at Blake.

She didn't even have time before Nora bear-tackled her onto the ground, engulfing her in a surprisingly strong hug.

"Thanks, Blake," she mumbled into Blake's chest.

The cat Faunus tried to look down, to no avail. Her chin making contact with the top of Nora's head, she couldn't help but feel as if she was led into a carefully planned trap by Nora. Then she heard footsteps, one pair lighter than the other, running towards the entrance. Her vision almost obscured by Nora's stray hair, Jaune and Pyrrha looked confused- after a few more seconds, to Blake's confusion, they started laughing.

"Hey Blake? Why's Nora sleeping on you?"

She blinked. "Sleeping?"

 _ **"SNNNNRRRRRRRRRR**_ _ **."**_

Jaune and Pyrrha kept laughing, much to Blake's ire as she tried to shove off the orangette.

"She must be tired," Pyrrha smiled. Grabbing Nora from her sides, she rolled her over onto the floor, allowing Blake to finally breathe. Nora was clearly in dream-land, mouth ajar. "Jaune, come and help me."

He nodded, and the two grabbed Nora and brought her arms over their shoulders. Blake, now leaning against the wall to catch her breath, noticed that while Pyrrha had no issues shouldering the weight, Jaune's knees nearly buckled initially.

"Well, have a good night, Blake. I'm afraid Nora won't be able to welcome back Ruby but give her our regards!" Pyrrha said.

Still slightly out of breath, she choked out an, "okay," before the three members of JNPR closed the door behind them.

"This is what I get for leaving my room," she said to herself.

The decision was then promptly made to go back into her room.

Grabbing her scroll- after she checked it for any damage from the hug, fall onto the ground, or both- she slid it through the sensor and entered. The familiar smell wafted into her nose, of Weiss' dust chambers, Ruby's weapon oil, Yang's hair spray, and Blake's own books. Grabbing her book that she left on the cabinet, she tossed her scroll onto the bed and fell backward onto her pillow. Closing her eyes for a moment, she grabbed her book, felt for the silk bookmark, and opened it to the page she left off on.

 _"Yes, I believe you could lie. Because you're a dishonest man, Veys. Because you've got the history."_

 _"Please, just give me another chance."_

 _"I'm sorry. **But-"**_

* * *

 **Back with Ren and Yang**

 **"I refuse**. Tell me why I must go with you."

"Because it's the terms of the dare! You have to come with me."

"I do not wish for bodily harm."

"Oh, relax. You're not going to get beat up out of all the people in there. You've got me on your side!" she said with her two thumbs pointed at herself.

"That is exactly what I'm afraid of, Yang."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Even if someone wanted to fight us, we could take them."

"Not if you were intoxicated and they actually knew what they were doing."

"Well, now you're just self-deprecating yourself, flower-boy." Strutting over to the entrance, pounding music already vibrating in his chest through the black doors, he swore to himself.

 _Oum._

"Come on, Ren!"

 _Oum, why._

The bouncer took one looked at her, and Yang winked.

"Hey there, mister. Mind letting me and my friend in?"

The 'mister,' on closer inspection, was a bear Faunus. Bearing true to his animal trait, he was massive- standing nearly seven feet tall- and bore ears that twitched at every noise. He was already snarling when Yang walked up to him.

"You again." He got closer, leaning over while Yang was unfazed, smiling into the menacing sneer. "You make trouble again and I'll be the one to mess you up, blondie," he growled.

"Sheesh, get a breath mint, guy." She pushed him away by the nose and turned around. "C'mon, Ren."

Looking around, he saw that the line stretched for quite a whiles, with people of all sorts already exclaiming their displeasure at how a blonde and some strangely-clothed male could skip them all.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Yeah, why can they skip!"

"That's not fair, man!"

"Who are you guys, anyway?"

Ren walked a bit faster towards Yang as the bouncer opened the door. Immediately, he was hit with the violent fragrance of energy. The music got louder, the lights brighter.

 _Oum, please, why._

"We get in because we're cooler than you all," Yang teased. "See you inside, everyone!" Grabbing Ren by the arm, she pulled him inside.

The last view of the outside world he saw was the slit of moon-lit sky between the doors as they shut. The last thing he heard from the outside world was the complaints from the people outside who were waiting for hours just to get in.

His head was filled with the music of the night.

His sight was taken by the neon lights and strobes washing over the crowd.

His breath was taken, too, but mainly by how screwed he was.

Then, the words he dreaded. Loudly, somehow ringing over the drowning cacophony of the chamber, Yang's voice rang true.

"C'mon, Ren!"

He could only stare in disbelief at what lay ahead of him, a brand new world that he or Nora had never even stepped foot into.

"Let's party!"

* * *

Outside the doors, after they shut, the Faunus turned on his scroll.

"Hey, I think I just saw that yellow-haired girl."

The response was immediate. "Really? You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You're sure that it's the yellow-haired one you want?"

"Yes, it is."

"She's not alone," the bear Faunus said warily. "I could smell the scent of Beacon on him, too."

"Hm. Well, this doesn't change the plan, Bozo."

The Faunus looked around. "If you say so. Just make it quick, alright? You girls and Junior owe me big time if this works," he muttered.

"Relax, Bozo..."

"... Of course, it'll work," finished the other voice. A slight pause. "I found another helper for the extra guy. One will be male, another female. You'll know if it's them when you see them."

"Got it." His finger hovering over the end call button, he looked around. "Thank you for your business, ladies. Tell Junior I send him my best."

"Sure."

 _Call Ended._

* * *

 **Took me a good half-year to write this chapter. School, ya dig?**

 **Anyhoo, if the poor-quality teasing wasn't enough, there will be Ren and Yang in their final scene next chapter before intermission: going into the few things Ren truly dreads other than that weird-ass, creepy-ass, screaming-ass, head-ass that was in Vol. 4 and did the do to his village, his dad, and probably anything else within a 100 mile radius of that god-awful Grimm.**

 **So, stay tuned everyone. Hopefully, it won't be another six months until I post another chapter.**

 **much love, much love~**

 **P.S: Yes, I did put in a motherfucking JoJo's reference. pls forgib, for eye am a wib.**

 **updated as of 5/29: I've added a new portion at the end. it'll lead far more smoothly into the events in the upcoming chapter!**


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